Fuyu no Sakura
by Geniusly-Unique
Summary: When a careless deity snips the thread of Haruno Sakura's life too soon, he patches up the problem by transferring her soul into another universe. 12 years later, seemingly ordinary Fuyuno Sakura must hide her identity as the mercenary 'Shi no Kage' from both L and Kira, even as her very existence tampers with the fates' original plans for these men. SakuMulti, Sakura-centric.
1. Age 4 - The Girl of Two Seasons

**March 27, 1994**

**12 years, 7 months, 27 days prior to Incident**

* * *

"You did what?!"

"No need to get so huffy, it's not like I did it on purpose."

"Who cares why you did it?! Man, _He's_ gonna be furious."

"Look, if He likes her so much, we can just do **this**." A pause. "See? All fixed."

"No it isn't, you idiot! We still have to explain why we had to do this in the first place!"

"Oh relax. She'll live longer now, see? I bet He'll even thank us."

"Huh." A head was tilted one way, and then the other. "Maybe... if we tweak a bit of **this**... add a bit of **this**... There. Not bad. It might start out a bit messy, but it'll work."

"We still have to tell him though."

"Damn it!"

* * *

Haruno Sakura was nearly 17 years old, and she was a highly skilled kunoichi, thank you very much. Not by any means would she presume to claim the title of _The Strongest_, but she was pretty high up there, able to boast of a great number of high profile victories and impressive accomplishments in her seventeen years of life. She was Senju Tsunade's protégé, one of the next sannin, a key player in the Fourth Shinobi World War and a powerhouse in her own right.

So it came as a great shock when she was found collapsed on her bedroom floor for no apparent reason.

_Cause of death: heart attack._

* * *

Fuyuno Sakaki was nearly 4 years old, and she wanted her mommy. She'd survived a month of living on the streets - just barely - and she wanted to go back home, pretty please. If only she could figure out where home was... That loud, mean mister had interrupted Story Time a month ago, and daddy had made her go play hide-and-seek; she came out after she was sure she'd won, but her mommy and daddy had both gone to sleep covered in ketchup and wouldn't wake up.

So when poor Fuyuno Sakaki woke up on the eve of her fourth birthday with all the memories that Haruno Sakura possessed, she did what any child faced with visions of death and overwhelming destruction would do: she curled up and cried herself to sleep.

* * *

When she woke up the next morning, Sakaki would be surprised to find that her limp, elbow length brown hair had shortened to her shoulders and become a pale pink. She would also be surprised to find that she was quicker and stronger than before, that her hands glowed blue and green, and that she really preferred to be called Sakura, thank you very much.

* * *

**Haruno Sakura** - age 17, Jounin

**Fuyuno Sakaki** - age 4, no formal education

**Fuyuno Sakura** - age 4, Jounin (?), no formal education (?)

* * *

**AN: **

Fuyuno Sakaki is the Death Note universe's alternate version of Haruno Sakura, before original Sakura entered the picture. She looks exactly like Haruno Sakura as a child, except with long brown hair. If this event hadn't occurred, she would have died within a week from being beaten to death (she's caught stealing). Well, technically this is a kind of death too, since now she's 81% Haruno Sakura and won't be called 'Fuyuno Sakaki' ever again. Age four ('shi', aka death) seemed rather appropriate.

Sakaki is a type of evergreen that's sacred to Shinto, and Fuyu is winter, so her name was [Sacred] Evergreen of Winter. A contrast to Cherry Blossom of Spring. The title means Cherry Blossom of Winter (sorry, I know it's cliché ;-; ).

There's gonna be L, Light, BB, Mello, Matt, Near, etc. in the story, all having varying degrees of romantic relationships with her. There will be none of that "love at first sight" kind of thing (not counting BB's "obsession at first sight"). All of the relationships will develop at their own rate, without rush.

I'd really like to know what any of you think, so please please review! :)


	2. Age 9 - The Kaito Dilemma

**May 12, 1999**

**7 years, 6 months, 11 days prior to Incident**

* * *

Sakura picked at the flaking blood on her clothes - her earlier victim had been of the messy screaming variety - and pondered the scene below her.

* * *

"You stupid brat!"

_Smack_.

A whimper filled the small alleyway.

"Thought you could steal from us?" _Kick_. "Huh?!"

"I'm s-s-so-sor-ry…"

_Crash_.

"You think saying sorry will be good enough?"

"Hey, why don't we make him vomit it back out?"

"HA! I bet he won't forget that anytime soon!"

* * *

Sakura twitched and jumped off of her perch. _Stupid bleeding heart!_

* * *

As one of the three men drew a leg back and aimed it at the small child huddled on the ground, a flash of black cut across the scene. An indistinct figure, clothed head to toe in black and ambiguous in every discernable way, landed in front of the lump and picked it up easily. The figure turned to them.

"What do you think you're doing?" it asked in a chillingly cold voice.

Try as he might, Kaneboshi Ginzo couldn't place if the voice was high pitched or low pitched. No matter how much he squinted, he couldn't tell whether the stranger was skinny or bulky or short or tall.

"Teaching this little snot a lesson he won't forget," one of his drunker business associates proclaimed. He laughed obnoxiously.

The black figure disappeared with its new bundle and then was back before Kaneboshi could blink.

"What are you - ?"

A foot flew towards his face. It impacted heavily and left a broken nose and several loosened teeth in its wake.

"ARHG! HOW DARE YOU, YOU FUC - "

A fist knocked all of the breath out of his body.

If an outsider had been looking in on this scene, they would have said that the shadows seemed to be moving on their own, the blackness of night itself reaching out to levy judgment on these men.

* * *

Finished with her self-appointed task, Sakura dispelled her genjutsu and crouched down in front of the cowering young boy. "Hey, what's your name?"

"K-Kaito," he told her. He coughed, and specks of blood decorated the cement rooftoop.

"Alright Kaito-kun, I need you to just close your eyes for a minute."

Kaito shut his eyes, but only just enough to give the illusion of being fully closed. He had long since learned that trusting random strangers was not conductive to survival, no matter how nice they seemed.

To his amazement, a green glow suddenly enveloped the stranger's hand. Kaito was torn - he wanted to see what it did, but what if it hurt him? In the brief moment before those hands contacted his skin, he contemplated running away, but decided his legs were in too much pain. He steeled himself for the worst as the hands lightly brushed him -

A gentle warmth unfurled from the point of contact, soothing his aches, dissolving his bruises, painlessly reconnecting torn skin. Kaito forgot he was supposed to keep his eyes shut, and awestruck blue met focused green.

Sakura sighed. "I told you to close your eyes."

Before she could extract an oath of silence from the kid, Kaito's state of relaxation allowed years worth of exhaustion to visibly overwhelm his young body.

He passed out.

Sakura hovered over the boy and wondered what to do.

On the one hand, it would be a blatant act of cruelty to leave Kaito here, defenseless as he was. It was obvious that he was an abandoned street urchin, just as she used to be. Plus, he might tell someone about her.

On the other hand, if she brought him to her apartment, she would have to keep him, both to make sure he didn't go around telling people about her and because she wouldn't have the heart to kick him out.

And on top of that, the kid had tuberculosis. She could cure it, though it would take a while, but...

But...

Sakura sighed again and made her decision.

* * *

**Fuyuno Sakura** - age 9, 5th year elementary

**Fuyuno Kaito** - age 6, no formal education


	3. Age 10 - The Micro Sister

**October 24, 2000**

**6 years, 0 months, 30 days prior to Incident**

* * *

A little girl, around 3 or 4 years old in appearance, sat idly in an abandoned garbage dump. Her dark hair was matted and tangled, the original colour indiscernible under layers of dirt and grime. Rags adorned her malnourished frame, doing nothing against the harsh weather that was beginning to set in. Her lips - tinged the faintest of blues - curled around a dirty thumb.

When Sakura landed in front of her, clothes splattered with blood, the little girl gave no indication of acknowledgment.

"Hello," Sakura said, bending down to the child's eye level. Big blue eyes, framed with thick lashes, flickered up and then looked away. "Are you alone?"

There was a long pause, during which the little girl tried to ignore her. When she realised Sakura was not going away, the girl finally gave a slow, almost lazy nod.

"Where are your parents?"

Bony shoulders gave a clumsy, half-hearted shrug.

"What's your name?"

A head tilted to the side in question.

"Do you have a name?"

Another clumsy shrug.

Sakura sighed and stood up. She held a hand out to the girl.

There was another long pause. The girl stared at the hand in confusion as Sakura, undeterred, continued to hold it out.

Eventually, the little girl stood up and hesitantly extended a thin, trembling arm, her tiny hand reaching up to hold Sakura's.

* * *

_Click_.

"Nee-chan!" Kaito barreled his way down the short hallway and launched himself at his 'onee-chan's torso. Sakura easily lifted the little girl in one arm as she hugged Kaito with the other.

"Kaito-kun," she greeted, patting his head. He finally separated from her and peered up at the expressionless little girl in Sakura's arm.

"Who's that?"

"Your new sister," the pinkette told him, wondering if maybe she should have asked his opinion first.

"Cool!" Or maybe not. "What's her name?"

"She doesn't have one. Maybe you can help us think one up later."

Kaito trailed after her as she made her way to the bathroom, muttering various syllables to himself.

"Kaito-kun." The boy glanced up at her. "Imouto and I are going to take a bath. Can you please make porridge so we can eat afterwards?"

"No problem, nee-chan!" Kaito grinned, happy to be useful to his surrogate sister.

* * *

As the girl sat on the sink top drinking a cup of warm water, Sakura quickly sliced her rags off with a sharp knife, taking the chance to trim the kid's hair so that it ended somewhere around her shoulders. She took glowing green hands and held them to the girl's torso, slowly raising her internal temperature as she healed bruises and checked for bugs and diseases. Sakura killed off and liquified a tapeworm - the kid could poop that out later - and ran her hands up to the neck.

_Ah, torn vocal cords. That's why she wouldn't speak._

She took a moment to heal them before bringing her hands up to the girl's head. Headlice and a variety of mites - as to be expected. She killed those off as well and swiftly brought her hands up and down the other extremities, knowing she had to warm the girl properly before having her take a hot shower.

Sakura trashed the pile of hair and rags and carried the kid into the bath. No little sister of hers would be left covered in filth.

* * *

When both Sakura and the girl padded into the kitchen half an hour later, Kaito sat behind with two steaming bowls of porridge wearing a huge grin.

"What is it?" Sakura asked, amused.

"I got it!"

"Got what?"

"Her name is gonna be Mikuro! 'Cause she's so tiny!"

Sakura cocked her head to the side. That… wasn't so bad, actually.

"What do you think, imouto-chan?"

The girl seemed to contemplate it for a moment before giving a shy nod.

"Alright!" Kaito whooped. Sakura laughed and lifted Mikuro onto a chair.

"Come on Miku-chan, eat up."

* * *

**Fuyuno Sakura** - age 10, 6th year elementary

**Fuyuno Kaito** - age 7, 1st year elementary

**Fuyuno Miku** - age 4, no formal education

* * *

**AN**

Yes, I realise that not many people are reading this. I'm having a lot of fun writing it though.

Mikuro means 'micro' in Japanese, if you were wondering. (That's why the chapter title is like that.) Kaito and Miku (yes, I did steal them from Vocaloid) aren't going to be very important… except when they are. I need them for the plot later, is all you need to know.

Young Sakura meets young Light next chapter, so yay for that.


	4. Age 11 - The Illogical Bonus Point

**April 7, 2001**

**5 years, 7 months, 16 days prior to Incident**

* * *

Daikoku Junior High. The cream of the crop. He'd pretended to be shocked at the acceptance letter, but really, it was just a matter of course. Hopefully, Sayu would be accepted too when it was her turn, but he sincerely doubted it.

_Sorry Sayu_, Yagami Light thought as he approached a corner. _That was mean of me -_

He slammed violently into someone rushing from the other direction. Pink flooded his vision as he toppled to the ground.

"Ow!" a high voice yelled in his ear. "Watch where you're going!"

He twitched.

"_You_ were the one running."

Really, how did this girl - and it was obviously a girl - even get into Daikoku?

"Yeah, and you were the one with his head in the clouds." The girl sat up. He stared at her.

"Your hair is pink."

"Yeah, and yours is brown, what about it?"

"Isn't it against school policy to dye it that colour?"

"What are you talking about, this is my natural hair," she huffed, finally getting off of him.

"I don't believe you," he told her, grabbing her outstretched hand and pulling himself up.

She stuck her tongue out. "Too bad, not my problem."

_Childish_, he thought. _Hopefully we aren't in the same class._

* * *

**Two hours later.**

They were.

* * *

**Three minutes later.**

Her name was Fuyuno Sakura.

* * *

**Twelve minutes later.**

Her entrance exam score was higher than his!

He'd gotten 100%, how did that even make sense?

* * *

**20 seconds later.**

That was it, he officially hated her.

* * *

**Fuyuno Sakura** - age 11, 1st year junior high school

**Yagami Light **- age 12, 1st year junior high school


	5. Age 11 point 5 - L's Breakthrough

**August 21, 2001**

**5 years, 3 months, 2 days prior to Incident**

* * *

L stared blankly at the mess of papers in front of him, a thumb thoughtfully playing with his bottom lip. This specific case was one that he took up as Deneuve whenever there were no other cases interesting or important enough. 5 years of on-again off-again work had revealed a series of seemingly important details... but no culprit.

L currently knew more about him than anyone else in the world, but due to his highly elusive nature, the Shi no Kage murderer had been nigh uncatchable thus far. Until yesterday, L had known only the following information about this particular killer:

1. The Shi no Kage's first kill was on December 12, 1996: a certain businessman named Yamaguchi Hiroto, who had been in Tokyo, Japan at the time (indicating that the killer had begun his spree there), was found in a high security hotel room with his throat slit in a manner that suggested professional training. There was no struggle, which, considering the man's character, was strange. The door remained locked from the inside, all windows tightly shut. The room was 50 floors high and the building impossible to scale, especially without witnesses. There wasn't a single piece of evidence that could be used to trace the culprit; not a DNA sample, not a fingerprint, not even a speck of lint. After a request from the Tokyo Police, L had sent Quillsh to personally take a look - nothing.

L had later found that this was a scenario shared by most of the Kage's future kills. Those that had been reported, at least.

2. All of the Kage's kills were spread throughout the country of Japan, and not focused in any one locale. The greatest number of kills was in the Kanto area by two people, lending credence to the theory that the killer had begun there. The latest one was on Sado Island, suggesting that he was currently located there, but this was unlikely.

3. The deaths always maintained two characteristics:

I) There were one or more people who had motive(s) to see the victims dead.

II) The deaths could never be traced back to the aforementioned people. Nor could it be traced back to anyone else.

From this information, L was 84% sure that the Shi no Kage was a mercenary rather than a normal serial killer, killing for money and not for the thrill or for fun.

4. The passage of time also revealed three different trends:

I) The victims became progressively high profile, whether in polite society or in the underground world of criminals.

II) Victims of the unscrupulous, debauched variety became considerably more common after time; all of the Shi no Kage's recent victims were members of violent gangs, corrupt politicians, or otherwise had history of abusing of human rights, such as rapists or, ironically, murderers.

III) There was a steep increase in count from 1996 to 1998, but after 1998 the number of deaths had begun to decrease.

It was clear that the Shi no Kage was finding himself in higher demand and could now pick and choose between the various requests to suit his 'moral' tastes. It was also very likely that he was receiving greater pay for each completed job. Either that, or he was finding himself in less need of money. Quite possibly both.

5. L was 92% sure that the Kage had a strangely pronounced sense of honor, despite his profession.

Of the victims, there were no children, and no one younger than 24. Less than 12% had children. Only 3 were female (which was why L had presumed the killer to be a man - women were rarely as sympathetic to their own gender), and, to date, only 5 victims were younger than 35. The deaths were always quick, clean, and as close to painless as possible.

However, this had not been enough for L to deduce the identity of the Shi no Kage. There were no other patterns that suggested a schedule of any sort, no way to trace the deaths back to any one person, _nothing_. Exactly three murders under the calling card of the Shi no Kage had left traces, but the crime scenes were too messy to be him - those murderers had obviously been copycats (he'd caught all of them, of course).

But now...

Twelve days ago, they'd caught a _wakagashira_, a first lieutenant, of the yakuza group Sumiyoshi-kai. After an impressive eleven days of receiving a very specific form of L's hospitality, the man had finally cracked and revealed how to contact the Shi no Kami.

He had dropped into a coma immediately afterwards, without warning and without perceivable cause.

Curious and curiouser.

Well, with this new information he'd be able to track down the killer by sending him to a bait criminal. L would be there, lying in wait; yes, it would be dangerous, but after investing so much time in this particular case, how could he possibly miss seeing the Kage for himself?

In all honesty, L was rather disappointed that catching the Kage would end up being so... easy. It almost made him want to abandon the case altogether.

Almost.

He was still curious enough to keep working on it.

* * *

**World's Greatest Dectective L** - age 18, formal education unknown

* * *

**AN**

Everything deduced/found by L in this chapter is correct (except for the gender). Sakura's first assassination was at age 6, though I guess she had the knowledge of a 19 year old kunoichi at the time. From 1996 to 1998, Sakura was saving up for an apartment and then for school fees so she could enroll for elementary.

Killing people without a trace pays surprisingly well.

Candy dream: I hope this chapter answers your question. :) She pays for everything herself. When she needs to pretend to have a guardian for whatever reason - like enrolling for school or buying a home -, she just uses kage bunshin and a henge.


	6. Age 11 point 5 - Snail Mail

**August 23, 2001**

**5 years, 3 months, 0 days prior to Incident**

* * *

"_Find a large statue of a snail around the Umeda Sky Building. It'll be somewhere at the base of the East Tower. There are other similar statues spread throughout the major cities, but I only know where the one in Osaka is. You'll notice that most people don't approach it. I never figured out how, but the statue repels anyone who doesn't already know about it."_

* * *

L stood in front of a cartoonish looking snail made of stone. It was almost as tall as him, had he not been slouching, and very noticeable. L looked around, but no one else seemed to give it, or him, a second glance.

_Peculiar_.

* * *

"_Next, you'll want to walk straight into the outer side of the snail's shell.__ You'll find a small room on the other side."_

Both he and Quillsh had been skeptical at this.

"_It's true! No no no please, keep that thing away from me, I swear it's true, it's completely true!"_

* * *

L pressed his foot against the solid looking shell. It went right through. A hologram, perhaps?

_So he was telling the truth._

The detective looked around, but no one paid any attention to him.

He extended his entire leg past the stone facade and jiggled it around. Nothing happened.

64% sure that nothing that would try to attack him was hiding inside, he dropped his leg and stuck in his head instead, eyes widening when he realised the space that met his eyes was entirely disproportionate to the size of the statue. He brought his head back out and waved his hands directly above the snail, meeting only air.

_What in the world?_

He went around the statue in a tight circle. Air.

_How is this possible?_

It seemed the Shi no Kage was just one mystery after another. L's lips quirked up in a tiny smile, incredibly excited at the prospect of finally solving the maddening puzzles.

He walked into the shell.

The room he had entered was at least two feet taller than the statue outside, and considerably wider. If he was so inclined, L could stretch out his arms to either side and only barely touch the walls.

* * *

"_There will be a chair and a ledge with a clean scroll opened on it. Beside the scroll will be a black pen. Just write on the scroll with that pen to communicate with the Shi no Kage."_

* * *

L picked up the scroll with both index fingers and thumbs and inspected it. It seemed like normal paper, if perhaps in a unconventional form. He tilted his head to the side and looked under it. Normal paper, though it had a strange sort of design on the back, consisting of seemingly meaningless squiggles. He put the scroll down and picked up the fountain pen.

* * *

"_Normal pens don't work. It has to be that one."_

* * *

There was nothing particularly special about the pen except for a small, swirly leaf shaped insignia on the top half.

Settling himself on the seat, L took the pen and made a line on the paper. His eyes widened when the ink slowly disappeared.

_What - ?_

A moment later, writing appeared on the paper.

Who is this?

Dropping the pen, L sat and stared at it for a moment, his mind racing with possible explanations. The writing disappeared and new words took its place.

Having second thoughts?

L blinked. Taking up the pen again, he carefully wrote, 'Hello, my name is Hiroma Satoshi.'

The ink faded away and was replaced with a message.

Hello Hiroma-san. What can I do for you?

_A polite mercenary. Unsurprising, as social acumen often accompanies intelligence, and the Shi no Kage is clearly intelligent to have eluded me thus far._

'Kage-sama, I am a small-time member of a yakuza group based in Osaka. I need you to kill my boss, a man named Yamamoto Kousuke. He's taken my wife against her will, and the police refuse to do anything - I'm certain he's bribed them into turning a blind eye. I can't speak out for fear that he will send men to kill me. I'm willing to pay 600,000 yen.'

There was a pause. The Shi no Kage was apparently deciding whether or not to take this job. L knew he would, since the story he'd concocted matched all of the killer's preferences.

Do you want me to bring your wife back to you?

To not seem suspicious, L wrote a 'yes'.

I'll take the job.

_Of course._

When and where do you want me to get rid of him?

L gave him the location and date of the trap, and wondered at the simplicity of the transaction.

Are you able to give me half up front?

L glanced down at the suitcase chained to his wrist. He'd been prepared to give the full price upfront, since the _wakagashira_ had fallen into a coma before he could specify.

'Yes,' L wrote. 'But how do I get it to you?'

Just stack the money on top of the scroll. I'll take care of the rest.

_It's likely that the Kage will come to collect it later_, L thought, as he placed the cash on the paper. _Perhaps we can catch him then_. The very thought of such an simple capture made the detective feel rather disappointed.

It was no such thing.

To L's astonishment, the money disappeared in a cloud of smoke. He narrowed his eyes and began to furiously work his thumbnail between his teeth.

_Some sort of teleportation device? Impossible. I would know about something like this. At the very least, Quillsh would have invented it before anyone else. And magic doesn't exist. Does it? No, there must be a logical explanation for all of these occurrences._

Come back 2 days after the job is finished and you can transfer the rest of the money to me.

'Yes.'

Mission complete but more puzzled than before, L picked up the scroll and pen and stored them in the suitcase. He would have Quillsh analyze it.

* * *

**World's Greatest Detective L** - age 18, formal education unknown

* * *

**AN**

Writing L is tiring, since he thinks so damn much and is so suspicious of everything. After the clash with L is finished, I'm going to write more interactions between Sakura and Light. Light is a cutie-patootie (for now, anyway).

BB next chapter! :D


	7. Age 11 point 5 - Strawberries and Cream

**August 24, 2001**

**5 years, 2 months, 30 days prior to Incident**

* * *

"Vacation! Vay-kay-tion!" Kaito cheered with glee as he ran around the hotel room.

Mikuro, though decidedly more placid, was also clearly excited to be able to explore a new environment. "Onee-sama... When can we go play?"

"Miku, I told you to call me onee-_chan_. Come on, say 'onee-chan'."

"Onee-sama, please answer my question," Miku said instead, apparently having not heard her.

The quietly smug quirk of her lips told Sakura that the kid knew exactly what she was doing.

_Impudent little brat_, she thought fondly.

"Alright midgets, come over here. I just need you to do this for me..."

* * *

**One day earlier**

Sakura sat up straight as one of her security seals notified her of movement.

Hiroma Satoshi was the last person she'd spoken to before the scroll was taken, and she knew he was the likely culprit.

_Time for a visit to Osaka._

* * *

_Knock-knock-knock._

Whammy peered through the peephole and looked around, but couldn't see anyone. There was, however, a splash of pink along the bottom fringes of his range of vision.

The old man cautiously opened the door.

"Yes?"

There was a young girl standing in front of him, pink hair, bright green eyes, perhaps 10 years old. He didn't let down his guard, knowing firsthand what dangers a child - especially a prodigious child - could prove to one's health.

"Hello," she said nervously. She tucked her hair behind her ear and rocked on her feet. "Umm, I'm looking for my little brother and sister... Have you seen them? They both have blue hair and blue eyes, it's very hard to miss."

"Ah, I did hear a bit of a commotion earlier, but I unfortunately haven't seen them. Is there a problem?"

The girl sagged. "We took the weekend off to celebrate Mii-chan's birthday - "

Ahh, that reminded him. Today was Near's birthday. Hopefully the child liked the present Quillsh had sent him.

"- but mom got called back to work. We decided to just stay and have fun by ourselves until she comes to pick us up. But now I've lost them! Both of them! Who knows what's happening to them? What would mummy say?"

Despite her best attempts, the girl's bottom lip began to quiver, and her eyes welled with liquid. When she tried to blink back the tears, moisture got caught in her eyelashes, and even they seemed to quiver despondently.

Whammy's weakness had always laid in children. He'd created an orphanage after all, a home to nurture those cast out from society at such a young age. He wasn't by any means a super man, but if he was, he would easily identify crying children as his kryptonite.

And so, the genius inventor Quillsh Whammy became another pawn to the whims of a sad little child.

* * *

Miku stared at the strange, tall teen in front of her. He stared back, eyes sharp, intelligent and a little unhinged. She blinked and tilted her head. He followed the motion with his own head.

She deemed him adequate for her purposes.

"Carry me," she demanded calmly, arms reaching up.

The stranger blinked and then his lips twisted into a cruel mockery of a smile. He said nothing and merely advanced towards the little girl.

His hands shot out, fingers hooked into claws.

* * *

"Thank you for helping me, mister, you're really kind." The pinkette abashedly rubbed at her nose with a sleeve. "I'm Sakaki. What's your name?"

"My name is Watari."

"Ah," she blushed. "Can- can I call you Watari-jiisan? I don't have a grandfather, so..."

"My dear, I would be honoured."

The blindingly happy grin she gave him made him feel proud, though he was unsure as to why.

"Nee-chan!" A blur of blue attacked the little girl at his side, and Whammy's hand instinctively twitched to the semiautomatic in his coat.

He quickly stopped himself. The attacker in question was a little boy; blue hair, blue eyes, hard to miss, as according to little Sakaki's description.

"Kei-kun!" The girl hugged her little brother tight.

And then she squeezed him tighter.

"N-nee-chan - can't - breathe!"

Whammy chuckled.

"That'll teach you to run off when I'm not looking, twerp!" She gave him a noogie, to the boy's obvious displeasure. "Where's Mii-chan?"

"I don't know, she wasn't with _me_."

There was a pause.

Sakaki blinked slowly, almost sleepily.

* * *

Barren. So very barren. This chakra tasted foreign in her mouth, a gray emptiness that slowly sucked away her energy and left her feeling lazy and laconic.

_Maybe if I just... rested my eyes..._

"Ah. It's onee-chan."

_Miku!_ Sakura snapped herself awake._ I can't fall asleep here, what would happen to Miku and Kaito?_

Sakura turned, calling, "Mii-chan!"

And then she stopped. Miku was sitting on the shoulders of the source of the foreign chakra, a male in his early teens. He was tall and thin, his black hair neatly layered and his eyes a dark shade of some indeterminate colour. He wore a dark red tee-shirt and black jeans that clashed with his pale skin.

He could be considered attractive, if one was attracted to devious eyes and hard edges and an air of borderline-psychosis, but that wasn't what transfixed Sakura's gaze.

The barren chakra she had sensed earlier congregated around his eyes thickly, making them seem to almost _throb_ with the alien energy. He had normal chakra circulation, similar to the other civilians of this world except with unusually high spiritual energy, but he also had another set of pathways concentrated almost entirely in his head, serving the sole purpose of funneling the gray-tasting chakra.

_A demon?_ No, this was a different feeling. That was sheer anger, chokingly oppressive in its power. This was emptiness, a slow gnawing on your will to live.

_A dojutsu?_ But what kind of dojutsu could this be? What possible advantage could this boy receive from those eyes, living in this calm world of civilians?

"Beatus, what are you doing here?" Watari-san asked.

"Oh no. I was caught. How awful." 'Beatus' didn't sound at all as if he thought it was awful. In fact, if the maniacal light in his eyes meant anything, he seemed rather delighted.

* * *

Unbeknownst to Sakura, BB's glee did not lay in this situation with his caretaker.

It was _she_ who'd caught his - admittedly dangerous - attention. It was the confusing mess of characters above her head, jumbled in such a way as to make her name unreadable. The red tangle looked as if several different names had layered over top of each other, each vying for the position of her true name, but all succeeding in doing nothing but obstructing the ability to read any other.

The clock that ticked over her was quite the work of art as well, the numbers constantly changing - not ticking down, as they were wont to do, but jumping whole years, going up entire decades only to lose another dozen turns around the sun. At one point the numbers tumbled down to zero, and Beyond Birthday expected the tiny thing to drop dead right there, but no such thing happened; the clock just started up again at a completely different point.

Quillsh Whammy's numbers had increased as well. Was this caused by the girl's presence? BB was pretty sure the answer would be a definite _Yes_.

It was absolutely fascinating. Beyond wanted to snatch her and bring her with him wherever he went. He wanted to make her sit in a cage all day so he could stare to his heart's content.

_Would things that normally kill people affect her in the same way?_

BB suspected not. His hands itched to prove if it were true.

_Can she even die?_

_Is she already dead?_

He wanted to own this anomaly.

His pet.

His to play with.

He wanted her to be _his_.

* * *

"Mii-chan, come here," Sakura said, disturbed by the horrifically possessive way Beatus was looking at her. The little girl slid down the guy's slim body and made her way to her onee-sama, sensing the urgent undertone in the words.

Watari-san sighed at Beatus. It was an exasperated, I-should-have-expected-this kind of sigh. "How did you get here, Beatus?"

"I snuck on the plane," the boy responded shortly, still staring at her.

"Lee-san will need to be informed."

Sakura's ears perked up. She had gone to Watari-san's room because the seal had led her there in the first place. She didn't think the elderly man fit the description of a Yakuza member whose wife would be stolen by his boss, so there had to be someone else.

Watari-san's phone rang. As he picked it up, Sakura sent a spike of chakra to her ears.

"_Watari_," she heard a high, artificial voice say. "_If you are finished with your current business, I require your assistance._"

"Sakaki-kun, I trust that you no longer require my help?" the man asked, turning to her.

"But I wanted to buy you a delicious cake, as a thank you," she said loudly.

There was a pause.

"_Please stay there. I will be joining you in a moment._"

"... It appears I will be taking you up on your offer, Sakaki-kun. However, I assure you, I will pay for my own."

Sakura blinked. That was much too easy. Was this Lee guy a sweet freak or was he just that hungry?

"I'll go too," Beatus piped up. "I found your little sister, after all."

Sakura swallowed the instinctive "No way creep" that had been more than ready to roll off her tongue; it would be rude to do anything but agree, since he had a fair point. "Of course," she said brightly.

After a few moments of waiting, a suspicious character finally stepped out of the elevator. He was tall, thin, and slouched, adorned with baggy blue jeans and a loose long-sleeved shirt. Messy black hair peeked out from under a ball cap.

The person raised his head to reveal skin bleached white from hours of sitting in front of a computer screen and dark circles - reminiscent of a certain Kazekage - that screamed of insomnia. All-in-all, Sakura got the impression that this was not a man well-versed in social etiquette.

Most notably, his spiritual energy was incredible, near astronomical.

_How much thinking can someone possibly do? _she wondered.

Beatus finally lifted his heavy gaze from Sakura and instead stared at the newcomer.

"_Lee-_sama," the boy said, with biting sarcasm.

_The people surrounding Watari-san are so... shifty._

She didn't like the thought that this meant the kindly old man was probably shifty too.

Lee did a little wave, the resentful tone completely going over his head. "Let us embark on our journey to sustenance," he announced to the group, his voice deadpan.

"Ah," Miku agreed.

* * *

Sakura handed Miku and Kaito some money to buy what they wanted and turned to the dark teenager standing uncomfortably close to her.

"Beatus-san, what do you want to eat?"

He immediately pointed to a confection that made her feel as if she was developing cavities just by looking at it. _Strawberries and Cream Cake_, it said on the label. An apt description, considering the sheer amount of strawberry jam and frosting there was on the thing.

"One slice?" she asked, preparing the cash.

"No, the whole thing."

She stared at him. "I... don't know if I have enough money for that."

"Don't worry chibi-chan, I was just joking." His lips pulled into something grossly resembling a smirk and he patted her head. "I can pay for myself."

And, before her disbelieving eyes, he did indeed buy the entire thing, with obvious intentions of eating the whole cake by himself.

Sakura trailed after Beatus back to their table, her own slice of cake in hand, and did a double take when she saw half of it covered with different confections. Lee-san was perched on the bench like a monkey, bare feet on the chair and knees curled up to his chest, eating his way through a cake with a queerly held fork. Sakura sighed when she saw Kaito had copied him.

"Kei-kun, put your feet back on the floor!"

"But 'nee-chan, why?" the child whined, even as he obeyed her.

"It's rude to do such a thing in public."

"But Lee-san is doing it!"

"Lee-san isn't my responsibility."

He was also staring at her with unblinking eyes. "There is a 34% chance that there was a hidden insult in your words."

"If the shoes fits," she shrugged and slipped into the opposite bench. Beatus, who had gone in before her, suddenly burst into a cackling laugh that sent chills down to the very marrow of her bones.

She was unbelievably relieved when he stopped.

* * *

Lee-san and Watari-san had refused them entrance into their hotel room. That was fine, she was just glad they had taken Beatus too; he looked ready to follow her to Tokyo.

Besides, she had her own means of getting things done. She'd just needed to scope out the inhabitants of the room.

"Kaito, Miku, don't get into trouble while I'm gone." Sakura closed the door to her room and jumped onto the windowsill. There was a puff and Fuyuno Sakura disappeared, with only a tiny fruit fly in her place. In a moment, even that fly faded away.

* * *

"Watari, do you have the results?"

Quillsh handed him a stack of papers and L rapidly flipped through them with a thumb and index finger.

"Curious. According to this report, there is a strange energy reading from the ink and the design on the back of the scroll." L absentmindedly squished a gummy bear between two fingers as he thought.

_What kind of energy? How is that possible? What purpose did such a thing serve? Did it have something to do with the instantaneous connection between the scroll and the Kage? Can I reverse the signal to lead a team straight to him? What dangers would that prove to the team? No, I'm getting ahead of myself. First, what kind of energy is this? It seems to replicate the energy in living beings, and yet does not have traces of organic matter. _

L spun his chair a few times. When it finally stopped, he was facing the rest of the room.

His eyes shot towards the scroll where it lay under an ultraviolet light.

_0.13 centimeters._

"Watari. I have reason to believe that we are in grave danger."

There was a pause, during which Quillish steadily put a hand in his coat.

"Ah." L waved a finger at his old friend. "Never mind. However, I do believe you will find that our newest acquisitions have gone missing."

Indeed, when L approached the innocently sitting scroll, the sight in front of him rippled. (Strangely, Quillsh appeared to have not seen it.) When he placed a finger on top of the surface, the detective felt only cold metal, even though his eyes told him that the scroll was _right there_.

L found himself torn between mild irritation, amazement, and a vague sense of exhilaration.

* * *

**Fuyuno Sakura** - age 11, 1st year junior high

**Fuyuno Kaito **- age 8, 2nd year elementary

**Fuyuno Miku** - age 4, kindergarten

**L** - age 18, formal education unknown

**BB** - age 14, formal education unknown

* * *

**AN**

The title refers to BB's cake and the personality that Sakura adopted when talking to Watari.

Watari isn't going to call Beyond 'Backup' in public. That would be weird, and besides, to the Whammy kids, their codenames are supposed to be as important as their real names. So I gave BB another fake name. A super ironic fake name.

Beatus is a word meaning _blessed_ in Medieval Latin. It also refers to a beatified man, a man given recognition by the Catholic Church of his entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in his name (aka, sainthood). Pff. Beyond? A saint? PFF. (To be fair, I was thinking about how Mello is the least mellow person _ever_, and how Near is very far from everyone in terms of emotional distance.)

When L said 34, he meant 74. 'Cos L lies about his percentages when talking to people.

**toolazytologin**: Thank you very much! I'm not quite sure what you mean by 'where I'm going with this' (lie; actually I don't know either), but I plan to use the years in Sakura's life before the Death Note falls to establish:

A. The life Sakura's created so far.

B. Sakura's relationship with Light (that's coming after this little bout with L). It's really cute. Y'all will love it, Light's totally a tsundere. Sorry Light fans, just wait a couple more chapters!

C. L's one sided relationship with Sakura/Shi no Kage. Right now, L likes and respects "him" a lot because her case is so incredibly hard to crack, and thanks to her he's learning about things that he didn't know existed, which makes him excited.

D. Sakura's relationship with the Whammy boys (I'm not sure how to incorporate Mello, Near, and Matt yet, but I'm working on it). BB creeps her the fudge out, but he likes her. Too much. At some point, he's probably going to try to hurt her as an experiment.

E. The effects of being an assassin on her life. I can't exactly say that she's killed hundreds (maybe thousands) of people in Japan without a trace and then have the world's greatest detective _ignore_ that. I had to show at least one time that they clashed.

After the start of the series though, I'm going to do a proper incorporation of Sakura into the anime. I just didn't want do it abruptly, as many others seemed to.

I hope your answer is somewhere in there. If you need further clarification, you can PM me, and I'd be more than happy to answer. :)


	8. Age 11 point 5 - Snuggling with Satan

**August 25, 2001**

**5 years, 2 months, 29 days prior to Incident**

* * *

**4:44 AM**

_Knock-knock-knock_.

Sakura groaned and turned over.

_Knock-knock-knock-knock_.

She jammed a pillow over her head.

_Bang-bang-bang-bang-bang_.

"Chibi-chan! I know you're in there!"

Sakura expelled a wordless scream into her blanket before dragging herself out of bed. She stomped to the suite door and yanked it open, snarling, "It's five in the morning. This better be good."

Beatus's face was arranged in some approximation of a grin. "Ooh, chibi-chan is fiesty. _I like it_."

_Urg, too much creepy too early in the morning._

"What do you want," she yawned. The anger drained out of her shoulders. She was too tired to maintain it _and _resist the effects of the foreign chakra at the same time.

"I wanted to play with chibi-chan," he told her cheerfully. At least, she thought it was cheerfulness. She couldn't really tell.

"Go away."

She tried to slam the door in his face but he stuck his foot in before it could close. All joviality slid away like water, leaving his voice low and dangerous. "I don't think so."

"I want to sleep."

"Then sleep!" The cheer - or whatever passed for cheer in his twisted mind - was back.

Sakura paused. That… wasn't a bad idea, actually. It wasn't like he could do anything to her; she was a kunoichi, and she was stronger than him even in sleep. Her ingrained reflexes would keep her safe, and a nice little compulsion genjutsu would keep him away from the children. No matter how creepy he was, he was still just a civilian.

She heaved a heavy sigh and grabbed Beatus's hand. "Come on then."

Sakura pulled him into the suite and padded over to her room with the young teen in tow, pretending the happy quirk of his lips didn't make her want to run for the hills. She reached her room, quickly did the genjutsu when he wasn't looking, and then pushed him on her plush bed. Beatus flopped onto it gracefully.

Sakura crawled into bed beside him, shoving him away from the center so she could settle into her little nest of blankets. She closed her eyes and let the gray chakra wash over her, snuggling into the closest source of warmth.

* * *

**8:29 AM**

Mikuro quietly cracked the door to her onee-sama's door open, hoping to ask if she and Kaito could go play.

"..."

She silently padded back to her room and got her camera.

* * *

**9:13 AM**

_Knock-knock-knock_.

Sakura twitched.

"You should go get that," a raspy, drowsy voice in her ear told her. She nodded absentmindedly and slid out of bed, wondering why her shoulders felt so heavy as she stumbled to the door.

"Yesss?" she sighed as she opened the door. "Ah, Watari-jiisan. Why are you here?"

* * *

Quillsh Whammy had expected any number of different things when the hotel door was opened.

On one end of the spectrum was the hope that Backup was not in the room, and had gone down to get breakfast. On the other end was the fear that Backup had somehow ended up scarring the other children for life in the few hours that he had been out of Quillsh's sight. Between lay any number of events, such as an annoyed Backup or a crying little girl or something on fire.

The sight that greeted him had not even entered his mind.

Backup was draped sleepily over the shoulders of a cutely yawning Sakaki, both children blinking up at him with matching dazed looks. Quillsh huffed in amusement.

"It appears I need not have worried," he said. Sakaki scrunched her brows in confusion. Whammy clarified for the poor girl, who looked as if she would topple over at any moment. "I had wondered where Beatus had disappeared to."

"Oh… him…" She looked around. "Where _has _he gone off to?"

Apparently realising something, she tilted her head back.

"Hi," Backup said, his head bent over the girl's. Strands of black hair fell forward and tickled her cheeks.

Green eyes blinked slowly. "When did you get there?"

As Backup had a conversation of incomparable levels of normality, Quillsh contemplated leaving these two alone.

… And then he realised that Sakaki was only 10, and likely would not share any of the sentiments Backup seemed to have. (Though he often wondered about that boy.)

"When will your mother come pick you up?" Quillsh asked instead.

"Today."

Backup froze. His hands, currently gripping Sakaki's forearms, tightened to the point of making the girl whimper.

"Ah, sorry," the boy said, pulling his hands away. He did not sound sorry.

Sakaki's pale arms were marred with red, hand shaped bruises, as well as crescent shaped marks where Backup's nails had cruelly dug into her skin. One of the marks was bleeding.

Quillsh sighed and gave Backup a reproachful look as he ushered the girl into the bathroom. He pulled out the first aid kit stocked in every suite and began cleaning up her wounds.

"I apologize for Beatus. You must understand, he does not make ties with others very often, so he was very distraught at losing a new friend so soon."

Sakaki nodded. Despite her injury, she still looked very sleepy.

* * *

As Watari-san led her back out, he said, "Perhaps if you maintained correspondence with him, it would give Beatus some peace of mind."

Beatus perked up. Sakura nodded again and, without thinking, told the both of them her real address.

* * *

**Fuyuno Sakura** - age 11, 1st year junior high

**BB** - age 14, formal education unknown

**Fuyuno Miku** - age 5, kindergarten

* * *

**AN**

Uh-oh. Sakura did a boo boo. Whoops. (OR NOT. BECAUSE I DID IT ON PURPOSE. HOHOHOHO) Sakura is _not_ a morning person.

BB fluff because

A. lots of people love BB

B. I love BB

C. I need it for plot (EXCUSE)

You guys do know that I'm going to take your reviews into account as I write, right? Most things aren't set in stone yet, so 94% of the time I'll be thinking about incorporating what you guys want as I go along. So. Reviews are good, for me and for you. :D


	9. Age 11 point 5 - Don't Ask Me a Mountain

**August 29, 2001**

**5 years, 2 months, 25 days prior to Incident**

* * *

L stared intently at the screen in front of him. The Shi no Kage would arrive any moment now, and L was determined to have at least some of his questions answered, even if the Kage wasn't caught this time.

The detective leaned forward as one screen betrayed a flash of black shooting up the side of the hotel and stopping on the 64th floor. Another screen revealed a window in the bugged suite silently opening. A figure clothed in black from head to toe slid inside.

After a cursory glance, L estimated the Kage's height to be approximately 151.8 centimeters. This was considerably shorter than what he'd expected, and that was without footwear being taken into account. The angles of these cameras refused to reveal the thickness of the Kage's soles.

L waited for the dark figure to reach the door to the master bedroom before he gave the signal.

"Now," he quietly said into the microphone.

There had been three Special Assault Teams lying in wait. One burst out of the room, another spilled out of the kitchen, and the third quickly exposed their positions behind various furniture. The black figure jumped out of the way of the first team, but there was no need; all of the soldiers were standing around, confused.

One of the soldiers pulled out a radio. "Sir? There's no one here."

L narrowed his eyes and began rubbing his bottom lip with a thumb. So the Kage could make himself invisible to the naked eye, as he'd suspected.

_But_ _this... ability... doesn't extend to recording devices. Why? More importantly, does he know?_

The figure in black easily jumped over the heads of two soldiers standing shoulder to shoulder and disappeared through the open door. A third screen revealed what was occurring in the room. L had gotten a criminal, fated to the electric chair on this date, to act as Yamamoto Kousuke with a promise of clemency if he survived this ordeal.

He wouldn't.

Ignoring the now-dead man, the Shi no Kage picked up Wedy, curled up on the bed acting as the kidnapped wife. L barely had time to check his spy's vital signs - alive but unconscious, despite being fully awake not 5 seconds ago - before the Kage cracked open another window and shot off.

Returning to the first screen, L could see that the assassin was on a roof opposite the building where the trap had been set. A strong wind whipped at the Kage's baggy clothes as 'he' shot off, revealing a body too slim to be a full grown man's. Another hidden camera revealed the assassin depositing Wedy on "Hiroma Satoshi"s doorstep and ringing the doorbell, before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

"Stand down," the detective told the Special Assault Team.

L would have to reevaluate some of his theories regarding the Shi no Kage.

In the meanwhile, he believed the Kage deserved a prize for besting him again. He would hide a few bugs in the money, but he doubted they would be productive.

* * *

**L** - age 18, formal education unknown

**Fuyuno Sakura** - age 11, 1st year junior high


	10. Age 11 - The Buzzing of a Fly

**August 31, 2001**

**5 years, 2 months, 23 days prior to Incident**

* * *

Sakura hummed cheerfully as she made her way to her next class.

Hiroma Satoshi had given her triple the promised payment!

Imagine, 1.8 million yen for a single, quick job. The target hadn't even been an important politician, though the team of soldiers had admittedly thrown her into a loop for a moment.

Either the guy had suddenly struck rich, or he was _that _grateful. In any case, Sakura appreciated it a lot. That trip to Osaka had made her a little worried about her finances.

Sakura was brought out of her musings when she bumped into someone's back.

"Oops, sorry," she said, looking up.

_Ah, it's Yagami. Retreat._

Too late; he had already seen her, if that subtle glance of resentment meant anything.

"Fuyuno-san, can I talk to you for a second?"

Oh no, he wanted to _talk _to her. Their last private conversation involved him faux-politely accusing her of cheating and her blank-facedly denying it.

The guy had a superiority complex: he just couldn't accept that anyone was better than him. Granted, he was very intelligent and she did have a bit of an unfair advantage, but that was no excuse to act this way.

"If I say no, will you send your fangirls after me? Because several of them are my friends, and several more like me enough not to hurt me, so that wouldn't be very effective."

Light's brows crinkled in confusion. "What?"

"Nevermind. Sorry, but class starts in a minute, and I don't want to be late."

His eyes practically burned holes into her back as Sakura walked off, and she happily imagined that she could hear him grinding his teeth, though she knew he was too mannered to do that in public.

* * *

**Fuyuno Sakura** - age 11, 1st year junior high

**Yagami Light** - age 12, 1st year junior high

* * *

**AN**

So you knew what Light thought about Sakura… now you know what Sakura feels about Light. Namely, annoyed.


	11. Age 11 - Sense and Sensibility

**March 13, 2002**

**4 years, 8 months, 10 days prior to Incident**

* * *

As Sakura passed by the courtyard, she could spot Yagami Light sitting on a bench, surrounded by several chattering girls. His lunch was left untouched.

Under her trained eye, his facade of pleasant amiability dissolved into nothing; it was obvious that he was hungry and highly annoyed, but too polite to tell the girls to go away.

It was the third time this week. Tomorrow being white day, she wasn't surprised that the flock had gotten bigger than ever.

_Just ignore them and eat if you're that hungry!_

Sakura considered leaving him to his fate as she had done every other time she'd seen him like this... but he looked particularly pitiful today.

Maybe it was because of the practiced, put-upon smile that screamed of insincerity.

Maybe it was because his hair was getting a bit long, and part of his fringe was beginning to cover his left eye.

Maybe it was because of that hidden air of broodiness that, during a different life, had made her own heart flutter.

Maybe it was because the rays of sunlight illuminated his hair until it seemed a familiar shade of blond.

In any case, Sakura decided to have mercy on him today. She hefted her bag higher on her shoulder and trooped towards him.

"Yagami-san!" she called. He looked up and stared at her in shock - or perhaps a dismal 'Not you too?' - as she stopped in front of the group. "Did you forget about that assignment we were both given?"

"Assignment?" Light asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah, for extra credits. English class, remember? Unless you want to fall behind me. Again."

Light twitched.

_That's right little mouse, don't you smell that delicious cheese?_

"I mean, not that I'd mind very much if you did. It wouldn't be very different from the current situation, actually. Since you'd seem to have forgotten, I just thought I'd help you out a little. I have to give you at least a _chance_ of catching up."

Light pasted a friendly smile over his clenched teeth. "Of course, Fuyuno-san, how could I possibly have forgotten?"

"I don't know either," she told him with a smirk. A muscle in his jaw jumped.

"Aww, Raito-kuuun, do you _have_ to go?" a few of the girls whined.

"Girls, you're much too pretty for him," Sakura told them with a grin and a playful wink. "When you find a proper guy, you'll wonder why you ever thought this bookworm was cool!"

Leaving behind a group of tittering school girls, Sakura dragged the grumpy Light into the school.

"What are you doing?" he asked, sounding rather ticked off. "There is no extra credit assignment. I would know."

There was, actually, but that was a secret between her and the English teacher.

_Once a teacher's pet, always a teacher's pet, I guess._

"Of course there isn't," she said instead. "I'm saving your ass, since you looked so miserable."

He blinked in surprise, but stayed silent until they finally reached her destination.

Unbeknownst to most students, there was a little picnic table on the roof. It had a fantastic view and basic protection from the elements. Sakura had set up shop there in the beginning of the school year, bringing along a little heater and a fan, and this was where she led Light to.

"You have," she checked her watch, "15 minutes. Eat quickly."

He sat.

"I'm not going to thank you," he told her, glancing away.

"I wasn't expecting you to."

She settled down beside him with a book.

"I don't owe you anything, okay?"

"Of course."

"I still don't like you."

"Uh-huh."

"... Thanks."

"No problem."

* * *

Alright, so maybe Fuyuno Sakura wasn't that bad.

He still hated her.

Just... not as much.

* * *

**Fuyuno Sakura** - age 11, 1st year junior high

**Yagami Light** - age 13, 1st year junior high

* * *

**AN**

Sai, Kakashi, Sasuke, Naruto. In order of how important the teammate was to her.

Heh. Light's funny.

I had this chapter written out before Snail Mail. Hohoho

Sense and Sensibility is the book Sakura was reading. If you look closely, I guess you can apply it to the contents of the chapter, but don't think too hard on it.


	12. Age 12 - Rapid Fire Replies

**June 8, 2002**

**4 years, 5 months, 15 days prior to Incident**

* * *

Light put down his chopsticks. "Sakura-san."

The girl in question was munching on a sandwich as she lounged across from him. "What?"

"The history project… are we going to work on it at your house or mine?"

"Clearly yours," was the prompt response. The pinkette didn't even look up from her book.

"I see…" He didn't. "Is there a reason?"

"My apartment's too small and cramped, I have a 5 year old sister and an annoying little brother, I probably won't have the right supplies, and my home's too far from any kind of supply store."

"You have siblings?"

He'd pegged her as the only child type. Not spoiled, exactly, but... outspoken. Unafraid to speak her mind, and not bothering to pick and choose her words. He'd seen her verbally dressing down a senior last week, without any thought as to the possible repercussions of such an action.

"Yeah. Why?"

"It's nothing. Here's my address. Come around at 5 today, I have cram school before then."

She gave him a lazy salute.

* * *

"Ara, I didn't think Light's friend would be such a pretty girl! Come in, come in."

Sakura had arrived.

Light hoped Sayu wouldn't embarrass him as she was prone to doing whenever a girl from school came over -

"Are you onii-san's girlfriend?"

- he'd spoken too soon.

"No."

Well, at least Sakura wasn't playing along.

"Do you _want _to be onii-san's girlfriend?" Despite himself, Light couldn't help but to listen for her response. What if she said yes? Light didn't think he'd be able to reciprocate her feelings, and then their tentative alliance would become awkward.

"Not at all."

He was relieved, Light told himself. Relieved, and not in the least disappointed.

His pride was _not_ wounded. At all.

_… But wasn't that reply too quick?!_

_She didn't even think about it!_

Light shook his head and made his way down the stairs to save Sakura from his little sister.

* * *

After somehow being roped into having dinner with the Yagamis...

(_She couldn't resist the temptation of a mother's cooking._)

… enduring a rapid fire round of questions from Yagami Soichiro-san...

("_What do your parents do?" "What is your school grade average?" "Where do you see yourself in 10 years?"_)

… utilizing evasive maneuvers to avoid lying to a policeman without revealing anything important...

("_Oh, this and that, things many people do for a living." "Somewhere over 90%." "Attending university and earning money."_)

… and finishing the history project two weeks earlier than it was due, thanks to the combined efforts of two over-achievers, Sakura stood on the Yagami household doorstep with Light at her side, politely bowing to the adults and waving at Sayu.

"Goodbye Sakura-chan, don't hesitate to come over again soon!"

After a last bow, she walked off with leftovers in her hands and Light in tow. She felt sorry that he'd been forced to walk her home, but Mrs. Yagami was just too persuasive to refuse.

After a few minutes, Sakura broke the silence. "Well, that went over better than I expected."

"Why, what did you expect?"

"I don't know. Something exploding. Being chased out with pitchforks and torches. Putting my foot in my mouth and accidentally offending your parents."

"Offending my parents is on the same level as something exploding?" he remarked dryly.

"Worse. I have a chronic fear of being hated by authority figures."

Light laughed.

"Why is that funny." Sakura sounded almost offended.

That just made him laugh harder.

* * *

**Fuyuno Sakura** - age 12, 2nd year junior high

**Yagami Light** - age 13, 2nd year junior high

* * *

**AN**

Don't think Light didn't notice how all of her answers were so vague. He definitely did, he's just not mentioning it.

FYI, Sakura is definitely not smarter than Light or L. She just has a different unfair advantages over both. (In intelligence, if L is 10/10 and Light is 9/10, Sakura is 7/10, less than Near and Mello, more than canon Matt. FnS Matt is 7/10 and not 6 though, because I say so. X)

Thanks to everyone who reviewed and favorited and alerted, I super duper love you guys! :3

I think I'm going to try to respond to all the reviews, starting right now.

guest (with a lower case): Thanks! Death Note x Naruto cliches? There were such things? o_o Could you tell me a few so I can try to avoid them?

Guest (with an upper case): Yay! I'm going to be updating this thing really often since I'm still in the excitement phase, so look forward to that. Light is really tsundere, isn't he? Unfortunately, he's going to grow out of it, since I need him to be canon. *Cries*

candy dream: Like I said above, I'm updating this super often 'cos I'm so excited about it. More of whose interactions, Sakura and Light or BB? In the first case, here you are! In the second… well, next chapter... You'll see.


	13. Age 12 - Visitors From Afar

**July 25, 2002**

**4 years, 3 months, 29 days prior to Incident**

* * *

There was a collection of teenage boys on the other side of the door.

Mikuro wondered what onee-sama would say when she got home. Something angry, probably.

Her onee-sama was an energetic person.

"Damn it, I shouldn't have followed you!" a harsh, angry voice bit out.

Miku thought he sounded like he needed a stress ball. She liked stress balls. They were fun to play with.

The reply was cold and malevolent. "No, you really shouldn't have."

That sounded like the nice man who'd let her sit on his shoulders on their last visit to Osaka. She had several candid photos of him and onee-sama sleeping together.

Miku wondered why he was so unhappy. She was always happy when onee-sama hugged her to sleep.

"Hey guys, calm down. Mello, don't set anything on fire. And, uh, Backup, let's put that knife away..."

Fire? Knife?

Miku thought that might sound like something she should call onee-sama about.

"_Don't call me that_."

"Alright, okay, B, just… let's keep this violence free, yeah?" There was a nervous laugh.

Oh, 'violence'. That was a key word. Onee-sama had said that whenever there was violence involved, Miku had to call her.

Miku padded over to the phone and lifted it from the cradle.

* * *

There was a pink haired girl around his age approaching them, looking none too happy. Was she the reason they were here? Mello took a peek at Backup and balked when he realised the psycho looked almost... pleasant. He could even be mistaken for _happy_, if you tilted your head exactly 62 degrees and squinted hard.

"Chibi-chan!" the psycho called. His lips pulled into a well-practiced grin.

Mello shivered. He'd walked in on Backup practicing his smiles several months ago, back when they were in the early stages. It hadn't been a pretty sight.

He definitely regretted tagging along with the freak all the way to Japan. He'd only come because the last time Backup ran off, the lucky bastard had met L face to face. Mello couldn't exactly let a chance like that go to waste, especially when Near had never met L before. Any chance to beat Near, he'd take. If that resulted in him meeting his idol, even better.

"Beatus. How do you know where I live? What are you doing here?"

Beatus? What a ridiculous name. Surely she wasn't talking about -

"You told me, remember? I came to see you~!"

She was. She was talking about _Backup_. That psychopath? A 'blessed one'?

Mello couldn't keep in his scoff.

Two gazes shot to him. One blazed with cold fury and the promise of a painful dismemberment; the other shone with curiosity and slight interest. Green eyes then shot back to Backup, and the first set of eyes looked away too, to Mello's relief. Not that he'd ever admit such a thing.

"Did you just say I _told_ you my address?"

"Yep!"

"When?"

"That last morning, remember?"

The girl's face became blank. "I... told you two my _real_ address? Oh. Oh, shit. _Fuck_."

_A potty mouth?_

Mello couldn't say he didn't like it.

* * *

Matt observed the tiny girl who stomped up to them. She was cute, sure, but what really caught his interest was the way she was glaring at B. She looked at him as if he was an errant puppy she had to scold, not a psychopath to avoid if at all possible.

Matt knew what was safe for him, and what was safe for him was staying far away from B. (And sometimes Mello, but he couldn't exactly abandon his rash friend to who-knew-what.) If it weren't for Mello, he wouldn't even be here right now; he'd be safely ensconced in his room, playing _Shogun_ and making all the characters turn into ballerinas as he beat the game without a single death.

So, for his own safety, Matt decided to watch the scene play out for a bit before saying anything that may endanger his limbs and life.

His discoveries were as follows:

A. B was probably not going to maim, kill, or otherwise harm them in the presence of this girl. Probably. Well, they stood a better chance with her than without her, anyhow.

B. Mello was chomping at the bit to know what was happening, and unless he spoke first, they would both be doomed. The blond wasn't exactly diplomatic, to say the least.

C. The girl was cuter up close. And _small_. Like something straight out of one of those romance visual novels (that he'd never played, if anyone asked). If his Japanese was as good as he knew it was, then 'Chibi-chan' was an apt description of her.

D. She really had no idea how dangerous B was. Matt wondered if maybe he should warn her, or if she was better off not knowing.

E. She also wasn't the brightest tool in the shed. Telling B where she lived?

At least she had enough sense to regret it.

* * *

Sakura wanted to beat her head against the wall. How could she have made such a rookie mistake? Telling them where she actually lived?

So what if she wasn't a morning person? So what if she kept forgetting that she had been a fearsome kunoichi, once upon a time?

For shame. Shame on her. Shame on her status as a ninja. Shame on her so-called intelligence!

She didn't think Watari-san would do anything troublesome with the information, but it was _this_ guy who was the problem. Sakura sighed and redirected the conversation. "Who are your friends?"

"I don't know who these guys are," Beatus told her cheerfully. He slid his hand into his left jacket pocket, grabbing something she couldn't see. "I can get rid of them if you want?"

The slim blond one exploded. "Like hell!"

"Mello, calm down." The guy in the goggles nervously patted the blond's shoulder. Evidently, he had seen the dangerous gleam in Beatus's eye. "Hi, I'm Matt and this is Mello. We're all from the same… boarding school."

Well, if they'd figured out where she lived, no point in telling them a fake name.

"I'm Sakura. Nice to meet you." She bowed slightly. "I hope you have someplace to stay, because there's no room in my apartment for three more people."

"No, it's fine. We rented a room at a nearby hotel."

"Would you like to come in for some refreshments? I have coke, juice, chocolate milk, and iced tea." She treaded up to the door and stuck her key in the lock.

"Do you have jam?" Beatus asked.

"Strawberry, right?"

He perked up. "You remembered!"

"It's... hard to forget something like that."

From the sympathetic look Matt gave her and the disgusted grimace on Mello's face, she could tell they'd had their own experiences with Beatus's eating habits.

(Between the suspicious Lee-san and creepy Beatus, she wasn't sure who was worse.)

"Anyway, I do. Come in."

* * *

Mello was finished his third cup of chocolate milk. Naturally, he demanded another - Backup had doused his case of chocolate in gasoline and then set it on fire, so he'd been chocolate deficient for _one whole day_.

"Your friend's a bit rude, isn't he?" Mello heard Pinky say. She was staring at his feet, which were crossed on top of the coffee table. He glared furiously at her.

"You wanna fucking say that to my face?"

She turned to him and calmly said, "You're rude."

"If you were a better host and gave me some goddamn chocolate, I wouldn't be so fucking rude!"

She frowned. "Look, can you please stop swearing? My baby sister is in the other room, I don't want her to learn these kinds of words."

"I'll say what I want, you bi -" Mello spotted a little girl, perhaps 4 years old, padding past the doorway. "- butthead."

Matt burst into peals of laughter beside him, and even Backup's lips were pulled into a terrifying smirk. The back of Mello's neck turned hot, and he knew his ears were bright red.

(He pretended it was from the humiliation, and not from the bright, happy grin Pinky was giving him.)

"_Stop laughing, you twat!_" Mello barked in English. He shoved Matt off the couch.

The wanker just tumbled onto the cushioned floor and kept laughing and Pinky hopped onto her feet.

"Chocolate, did you say? I have a whole box full from White Day, I'll go get it."

All amusement on Backup's face was wiped away as Pinky flounced (or bounced or skipped or pranced - whatever that disturbingly preppy way girls walked was called) off to get the box of treasures.

Mello edged away from the psycho as he ground his teeth and hissed, "White Day?"

What was so horrible about White Day? Mello rapidly flicked through memories of various textbook passages in his mind, finding one entry in the section on Japanese Culture.

**"White Day (****ホワイトデー****):** _a day marked in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and China on March 14, one month after Valentine's Day. In Japan, Valentine's Day is typically observed by girls and women presenting chocolate gifts (either store-bought or handmade), usually to boys or men, as an expression of love, courtesy, or social obligation. Handmade chocolate is usually preferred by the recipient because of the perception of sincerity, effort, and emotion put into a home-made confection. On White Day, the reverse happens: men who received a honmei-choco (__本命チョコ__, 'chocolate of love') or giri-choco (__義理チョコ__, 'courtesy chocolate') on Valentine's Day are expected to return the favor by giving gifts. Gifting a female with white chocolate signifies the sentiment of friendship, while presenting milk or dark chocolate is the equivalent of saying 'I like you', and chocolate cookies signify a confession of romantic love._**"**

_Ah. That's why._

* * *

Sakura padded into the room, box in arms. "Sorry, my little brother ate up all the cookies, so there's only normal candies left."

Mello sat up. "How many cookies did you get?"

Beatus leaned in too, apparently also interested in the answer.

"Um." She glanced up and thought for a moment. "Twenty one."

A thunderous expression slid onto Beatus's face, casting his angled features into shadow. "From how many… _men_."

It wasn't a question, it was a flat out order - an '_Answer me_' with an underlying threat of '_And don't even _think _of lying'_. Sakura wanted to punch him, but held herself in check. It wasn't exactly a hard question to answer, after all.

"Fourteen."

Matt whistled lowly.

A muscle in Beatus's jaw jumped. He looked as if he was ready to charge out the door at any moment, as if the only thing keeping him from maiming someone was the lack of knowledge of whom to maim. Sakura, fearing for the safety of all occupants in the building, quickly searched her mind for something that was likely to calm him down.

She blurted, "There's no guy I like at school, so I didn't give anyone a honmei chocolate on Valentines."

There was no guy she had romantic feelings for _at all_, but she was relatively certain that saying that would probably make him angrier: she wasn't ignorant to the way he acted. It made her angry that he thought of her as "his" but there was nothing to be done for it.

Sakura wanted to live as normally as possible, and he was clearly the stalker type. She didn't want to kill a person for such a trivial reason... not to mention, someone would probably notice.

As the darkness in Beatus's expression faded, he relaxed and leaned back. The roiling maelstrom in his eyes visibly abated to its original state of mild turbulence. He chuckled, and it sent violent shivers down her spine. "Chibi-chan, why didn't you say so? For a moment, I thought I'd have to go get my saw and carve some fucker's dick off."

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Matt flinching and scuttling away from Beatus. Mello didn't openly react, but gooseflesh was rising on his exposed arms.

"A-ah. Isn't it great that you were saved the trouble," she deadpanned. She walked over to Mello and handed him the box. "Have as many as you want."

The blond raised an eyebrow. "There's a lot in here."

Beatus twitched but didn't otherwise respond.

Mello, thankfully, didn't comment on the dearth of white chocolate.

* * *

The trio of genii (as she'd quickly found out) stood on Sakura's doorstep, the setting sun framing their lithe figures. She bowed. "It was nice to meet you, Matt, Mello. Hopefully we'll see each other again in the future."

Lie. They weren't so bad, but considering the reason they'd met in the first place, it _wasn't_ nice meeting them. She would be happy to never see them twice if it meant she could avoid seeing that guy ever again.

"Chibi-chaaan," Beatus whined. "Do I really have to go?"

"Yes."

"Can I get a kiss?"

"No."

"If you give me a kiss, I'll leave."

"Just go."

"Only on the cheek then!"

"Do you think I'm stupid? You'll just turn your head."

"Oh, I was found out," he said unabashedly. "Too bad."

She slammed the door in his face.

And shivered horribly when she heard his laugh through the door.

* * *

**Fuyuno Sakura** - age 12, 2nd year junior high

**BB** - age 15, education unknown

**Matt** - age 12, education unknown

**Mello** - age 12, education unknown

**Fuyuno Miku** - age 5, kindergarten

* * *

**Omake**

_**If you were wondering about the phone call between Sakura and Miku...**_

"Onee-sama."

"Miku-chan, what is it? Onee-chan's just finished a job in Yokohama, do you want me to get you something on the way?"

"Onee-sama, there's violence in the doorway. The loud men have a knife and one tried to set something on fire."

"_WHAT_?!" Miku calmly lifted the phone away from her ear and held it at arm's length. "MIKU STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE, 'NEE-CHAN WILL BE THERE IMMEDIATELY."

Miku hung up.

_Ah, onee-sama is as energetic as usual._

Miku wandered off to have a nap.

* * *

**AN**

Haha, Miku-chan's super cute. No Kaito, 'cos he's at soccer practice.

Sakura's morals are so messed up - she didn't want to kill him because _someone will notice_. Not because it's wrong to kill. Well, being a mercenary since the age of 6 does that to you. And don't even get me started on how messed up BB is. I'm disturbingly good at writing the kind of stuff that came out of his mouth. (There was a knife in his left pocket, by the way.)

I took a bit of liberty with the character data, using manga birth years for Matt, Mello, and Near, and anime birth years for everyone else (except BB, whose birthday I made up using strange logic). I need them to be old enough for Sakura, especially Near. ;)

**Guest review replies (SUPER LONG BEWARE)**

toolazytologin: Aww, thank you!

Guest (who disagrees with Sakura's Intelligence rating): Nonono, 7/10 isn't bad at all! You see, Quillsh Whammy is 7/10 too (according to canon), and he's a genius inventor. Matt is the third smartest person in Whammy House, a house for genii, and he's 6/10 (but I call total bs on that, it's too low. A house of genii!). Mello is 7/10 according to one Death Note character book, though he's 8/10 according to another. It's just L and Light and Near who are super genii. Besides, Sakura's rather intelligent, but she isn't a super genius. She just also works hard, studies a lot, and (this is only in my head canon lol) has a photographic memory. If you really really hate it that much, I can boost her up to 8/10? I don't particularly mind either way.

guest (who agrees with Sakura's Intelligence rating): Indeed! But you can't say Sakura isn't excellent at practical application, since, as upper-case Guest (above) mentioned, Sakura was the only one to finish the written chunin exam without cheating. Also, the series of traps she set up in the Forest of Death does display a fair bit of strategic ability, though maybe not Shikamaru's level.

Guest (who asked about flashbacks): No flashbacks; her original life really wasn't any different from the canon manga _Naruto _right now. As for the transformation thing - Sakura's chakra is limited. She has to use chakra to speed herself up, has to use it to stick to roofs, has to use it to climb the hotel, has to use it to constantly maintain the genjutsu that makes her non-existent to people's senses, etc. She doesn't have enough chakra to continuously keep herself in a henge and maintain the genjutsu from Tokyo to Osaka. _FnS_!Sakura has higher chakra levels than she originally had at 11, having done much more training and having used it more often, but she's still a kid.

Being a fly, or something similarly small (which wouldn't require the genjutsu as she can slip unnoticed into a room) would slow her down considerably over such a long distance of travel, and she would have to undo it just before killing the person, since flies can't slit people's throats. In the brief moment after the henge is undone and before the genjutsu can be cast, she's fully visible (flies don't have hands for the seals and Sakura isn't yet skilled enough to do seal-less), which is dangerous for her.

And sure, she could have used henge to become a different person _just before _entering the room, which she would have enough chakra for, but she doesn't know where the cameras are, or that there even are cameras (no need to waste chakra if it's not 100% necessary). And is she being monitored as soon as she leaves her house? When she's halfway to the hotel? As soon as she's in the city? Around the nearby buildings? In the room?

Changing into a different person mid-journey would be _even more_ suspicious, and Sakura doesn't want the people of this world to know this kind of thing is possible. L, for example, had cameras installed around the surrounding buildings too. If she henged in a nearby alley, he would have seen it. Sakura, being a smarty pants (see above review replies) thought out all of these possible scenarios out before acting as a mercenary.

Sorry for the essay, lol. I know it was supposed to be a simple question, but I tend to be long winded.

**Why is everyone 'guest', it's so confusing x_x.**

**Kidding, thanks for your reviews guys! :)**


	14. Age 12 - Watermelon Red

**July 26, 2002**

**4 years, 3 months, 28 days prior to Incident**

* * *

Sakura picked up a watermelon and rolled it around in her hands, checking to see if it was ripe. She was of the school of thought that watermelon purchasing was something to be undertaken with the utmost concentration.

_Let's see. Firm, heavy for its size. Yellow spot, deep green colour. Curly stem, bee stings. Hmm..._

She held the fruit to her ear and knocked with her knuckles, making sure to moderate her strength.

(She'd accidentally pulverized a watermelon a few years ago, to the utter confusion of store clerks and fellow shoppers, and had needed to pay for the damaged product. Luckily they hadn't banned her or kicked her out, despite not understanding how a little girl could _accidentally_ reduce a watermelon to an explosive pulp by tapping her knuckles.)

The sound was hollow, as if she was knocking on a door.

_Good_. Sakura placed the watermelon in her shopping cart and had a panic attack when she saw Mello standing on the other end of it, in his customary black shirt and jeans.

He looked amused.

"How long have you been standing there?" she gasped, holding a hand over her racing heart. How had he snuck up on her? _Her_! She should have - should have sensed him or heard him or something!

"The entire time you were fondling _that_ thing," he said, tilting his head towards her cart. Mello smirked. "Are you that focused in all of your relationships, or are watermelons just special? Should I leave you alone?"

Sakura could feel her face warming. "Shut up."

_I have nothing to be embarrassed about_, she thought resolutely.

It didn't help.

"Why are you here?" she asked, preparing to push the cart past him. "Please tell me Beatus isn't with you."

"Like I'd willingly go around with that psycho! And that reminds me…" Mello reached in his back pocket and took out something rectangular, wrapped in silver foil. He looked to the side as he thrusted the object at her. Sakura could see the tips of his ears turning a slight pink. "Here. Take it."

"What's this for?"

"For the chocolate yesterday."

"That's really not necessary - "

"Just take it already!" he barked. The pink had abated and now he just looked irritated, though he still refused to look at her. "I refuse to let a debt go unpaid."

_If we're talking about repaying debts, you should give me thirty of those_, she thought drily. _Well, he really didn't need to, so it's the thought that counts_.

"Thank you," she said sincerely. She'd actually been really craving something sweet, so this was like a godsend.

She unwrapped it, but paused before the chocolate reached her lips.

"You did _buy_ this, right? You didn't just take it off a shelf in the store?"

He gave her an angry look. "What do you take me for? Of course I bought it! And it's not from the supermarket anyway, it's from a chocolatier."

Sakura shrugged and took a bite... and let out a sweet moan as the creamy confection melted deliciously on her tongue. She eagerly took another bite.

"_Oh_, this is _so good,_" she breathed. This one bar was easily worth two boxes of the cheap chocolates she'd given him!

* * *

Mello felt his ears reddening again. What was she making such indecent noises for?! It was just chocolate!

"You didn't have to give me this, but I'm so glad you did." Pinky took another bite and sighed happily.

"Whatever," he scoffed. Mello looked everywhere but at her as he diligently ignored any and all heat gathering in his face.

He peered into her shopping cart in search of a distraction, and couldn't help but raise a brow.

"How many watermelons does a person need?"

"... Shut up. I like watermelon, so what?" She stuck her tongue out, inadvertently licking the bar of chocolate held in front of her.

Mello was irritated to find that his face was getting hot again.

* * *

Mello was a highly responsive person, Sakura noted. He was predisposed to emotional outbursts, and, despite being a generally fierce character, was incredibly prone to embarrassment.

She couldn't help but to find that a little cute. _Is he what you call a 'tsundere'?_ she wondered.

She watched him snap angrily at a negligent babysitter in the magazine aisle and decided that, _yes_, he was _exactly_ what you would call a tsundere. When Mello finally caught up to her, she couldn't help but be facetious. "The kid was getting in your way, was he?"

"Yes," he snapped. He refused to make further comment.

* * *

As Sakura was putting away the groceries, there was a knock on the door. She rolled the last watermelon into the fridge and made her way to the entrance.

"Yes?" she asked, peeking out. Beatus was holding a crying Kaito under an arm. "I'm here to return this to you."

Her eyes went wide, and then she scowled furiously. "What the hell did you do, you bast - ?!"

Kaito launched himself at her. "'Nee-chan," he sobbed. "I was s-s-so scared!"

Sakura rocked her brother in her arms and pinned Beatus with a glare that said, '_Don't you dare move a muscle_'.

He grinned and acquiesced.

"Shh, it's okay, I'm here now, no one can hurt you," she cooed. "Tell onee-chan what happened."

"There were these bad men and - and they had knives a-nd they sai-said they - they said they were going to k-k-kill me!"

"Who said that, sweetheart? Who are the bad men?"

"The bad men under the bridge!" Kaito looked up at her with large, teary eyes. "They said that no one would care if I died. 'Nee-chan, that isn't true, is it? They were lying, weren't they?"

"Of course they were lying, Kaito-kun." Sakura smoothed the hair out of the child's face. "There are lots of people who would be sad if you disappeared, isn't that right Beatus?"

The dark teen shrugged. She glared at him over Kaito's shoulder, glad that the boy was facing her.

"See, even Beatus agrees," she lied.

Kaito sniffled. "But my first family didn't want me either."

From Beatus's intrigued expression, it was obvious that he hadn't realised that Kaito was adopted. He and Sakura shared some of the same facial features after all, their noses and cheekbones identical - not to mention their close relationship hadn't even allowed for the suggestion of such a thing.

"Well they're just stupid-heads. Tons of people love you. What about your friends and teachers? What about Miku-chan? Kaito-kun, you _know_ that I love you to bits!"

He nodded into her shoulder. "Uhn." The boy then pulled back and wiped at his eyes as Sakura wiped his nose with a handkerchief. "But you know, Beetas-niisan was totally cool when he saved me!"

She glanced at the smug looking Beatus. "Oh, was he?"

"Yeah! He was all 'HAHAHAHA' and then he set people on fire and stabbed them and stuff!"

Sakura twitched. "I... see."

She would have to have a talk with Kaito later, about things that were and were not appropriate to admire. For now, she sent him to wash up for dinner.

"So." She stood in the center of the doorway and stared up at Beatus. "Bad men, huh?"

"I took care of most of them, but a few escaped. Usually, I don't bother to remember the names of worthless scum... but for you I made a teeny tiny exception." _You should feel supremely honoured_, his eyes seemed to say, while the superior smirk playing around his lips screamed of '_I know something you don't_'. "Sugimoto Shou, Onishi Asahi, Noguchi Gyou, Ueno Araki. Do with this information what you will."

He turned to leave, but Sakura grabbed his shoulder. As Beatus twisted to look at her, she went on her tiptoes and lightly pressed her lips against his cheek.

"But don't expect that to ever happen again!" she warned, cheeks a faint rose. Sakura slammed the apartment door closed, nearly missing his gleeful grin.

* * *

**Fuyuno Sakura** - age 12, 2nd year junior high

**Mello** - age 12, education unknown

**BB** - age 15, education unknown

**Fuyuno Kaito** - age 9, 3rd year elementary

* * *

**AN**

In which Mello pays his debts, Beyond gets a surprise present for his services, and an awful lot of blushing occurs.

Kaito can't pronounce Beatus lol.

In all honesty, BB would totally have left Kaito to his fate if 1. Kaito wasn't Sakura's brother and 2. Beyond wasn't already pissed off from being unable to play with Sakura (he didn't know she went to the supermarket) and searching for something to vent his anger. Beyond is _not_ a nice guy.

Mello is though! :D For those of you who like tsuderes, Light won't be one for much longer (if at all) 'cos I need him to be the sleek dude he was in canon. Mello, however (when he's not being a sly, moralless criminal bent on winning over Near), _will_ be tsundere. For nearly the entire story. I UNLEASH YE FANGIRLS.

Also, does anyone want stats/background data for the characters in this fanfiction? Particularly Sakura and BB, since I had to add some stuff to his personal information for the sake of the story.

**Review Replies**

Sasu-Cakes137: "This is lower case guest here" WHY IS THIS SO FUNNY TO ME OMG.

Yuyui: Thank you! (I WANTED TO FRAME YOUR REVIEW AND HANG IT ON MY WALL.) :D


	15. Age 12 - A Whole New World of Rage

**July 27, 2002**

**4 years, 3 months, 27 days prior to Incident**

* * *

**2:14 AM**

Sakura rubbed at her arm and quietly considered the black clothes hanging in her closet. She'd finally lulled Kaito to sleep, but was now faced with a difficult decision.

In all actuality, she was _grateful_ that Beatus had missed a few of the fuckers. It gave her the chance to exact her own retribution - if he'd cleanly killed them all, she'd have been angry that she wouldn't have the chance to hurt them with her own hands.

But herein laid the problem: kill the assholes now, or kill them later?

On the one hand, she was quite literally _itching_ to rush out and make the bastards wish they'd never been born. Her bloodlust was almost at unmanageable levels. She wanted to tear them limb from limb, to spray their filthy entrails all over the equally filthy ground of an alleyway. She wanted to erase the stains of their existence as soon as possible.

On the other hand, if she killed them now, and all within a short span of time, Beatus would know that it was her, or someone who similarly cared about Kaito. And if she went out as the Shi no Kage, she didn't doubt that the psychotic genius would immediately make the connection between pink-haired Sakura and the uncatchable assassin.

She cursed and tousled her hair until it was a tangled mess.

"Arg!"

... Those shitheads were lucky.

Sakura would allow them to live a little bit longer. She grit her teeth and slid the closet door shut.

_Fucking hell._

* * *

**12:47 PM**

Sakura sighed as she opened the door.

"Do you have to come bother me _everyday_ -" she stopped and blinked. "Oh, it's Matt. Sorry, I thought... Anyway, what's all this?"

Matt stood in the doorway with a cocky grin, arms laden with wires, video game consoles, and CDs. "_This_ is how I'm gonna induct you into the prolific society of gamers!"

"I doubt it." She quirked her lips. "Fine, come in. There's nothing else to do right now."

* * *

**Two days ago**

Matt glanced furtively around the living room. He peered behind the sofa. He investigated the shelves surrounding the television.

Matt's brows wrinkled in distaste when he didn't find what he was looking for.

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked, curious.

"Where's your gaming system?"

"What?"

"Your gaming system! You know, consoles, CDs, headsets?"

"Oh, that. We don't play those kinds of things in this house."

"What?!"

"I find them childish and distracting, and I don't want Kaito-kun or Miku-chan getting addicted."

"You don't play _any_ games? Video games? Handhelds? Computer? No? Nothing?" She shook her head.

"We have board games and puzzles and such."

Matt gave the girl an appalled look, as if she'd just announced that she was deeply in love with a catfish man and had decided to run off and elope with him.

"That's it. I'm coming back on Friday. Be prepared, because I'm going to show you a whole new way of being alive."

B and Mello both stared at him from their respective seats, looking unimpressed at his passionate declaration, while Sakura just looked amused.

* * *

**1:06 PM**

"I died," she said, blankly looking at the screen.

"Yeah, that's normal."

"But... _you_ didn't die."

Matt gave her a smug look. "I'm special."

"..." There was a pause. Sakura stared intently at the little controller gripped in her hands. "... Again."

"What?"

"We have to go again."

The fire of competition, usually kept snuffed deep within, had come back to life with a vengeance; the fiery flames licked at her very soul.

Matt raised both eyebrows. "I thought you said this was childish."

"I. Demand. Another. Go."

"Okay, okay," he laughed.

* * *

**7:51 PM**

"Yeah!" Sakura cried, throwing down her controller. She pointed at Matt triumphantly. "Take that! I win!"

It was her second win, after 173 loses.

"Good job, Pinky."

Sakura squeaked in surprise and spun around. "You! Since when were you - How did you even get in here!"

Mello smirked at her. "I picked the lock... half an hour ago."

There was a clatter in her kitchen, and Beatus peeked out of it. "Chibi-chan, you're all out of jam."

Still brimming with energy from mowing down a whole slew of zombies, Sakura couldn't help but to shove her face into a couch cushion and scream in frustration.

* * *

**Fuyuno Sakura** - age 12, 2nd year junior high

**Matt** - age 12, education unknown

**Mello** - age 12, education unknown

**BB** - age 15, education unknown

* * *

**AN**

The original title was "A Rage Filled Place I Never Knew" but it was too long. D:

Beyond climbed through the kitchen window (Sakura's on the second floor of a four floor building).

Sakura lives in a secure apartment. Don't you wonder how they're getting through the front door without intercom-ing Sakura? Because I don't know either. (I'm tempted to just say that Miku's letting them through.)

Next chapter, the three amigos are going home. Either L or Near might make an appearance (it really depends on whether or not they want to be written). High schooler Mikami Teru shows up two chapters after this one.

Lazy self-advertising: I'm also writing a Doctor Who rewrite, with the premise being that Rose has more common sense. Check it out if you like, I'm much more review whorish there haha.

**Review Replies**

Guest: And there's your answer! ;D They'll die... eventually... but in a way that doesn't shed suspicion on the Fuyunos.

redrose3443: Actually I have no idea how to incorporate Near yet, but I'm working on it for youuuu. Who's your other favourite? L, I'm guessing?

**Thank you guys for the reviews! Please rate and subscribe - wait no, that's YouTube...**

**Please review and let me know how you like it so far, and what you'd like to see more of in the future! I'll probably use your suggestions as chapter prompts when I'm in need of ideas.**

**TELL ME YOUR DESIRES (I'M GENIE FOR YOU FANGIRLS) TELL ALL OF THEM TO ME (I'M GENIE FOR YOUR WISH)**

**Yes, that is SNSD Genie, translated not so greatly. **


	16. Age 12 - Clouds of Ambiguous Form

**August 23, 2002**

**4 years, 3 months, 0 days prior to Incident**

* * *

Sakura stared.

The boy stared back, twirling a lock of hair with his finger.

She stared some more, her hands curling into tight fists on her thighs.

The boy calmly met her gaze, his face expressionless.

Sakura finally gave into the urge.

Her hand reached out to ruffle the fluffy white hair.

"You have a cloud on your head," she informed him, her fingers eagerly combing through the silky strands.

"... I see."

Sakura wasn't sure what it was that he saw, but she could do this _forever_.

* * *

Matt wondered if maybe he'd stayed up too late playing on his handheld last night. There was no way what he was seeing was actually what he was seeing… right?

He was dreaming. Yes, that was it, this was just a lucid dream -

"What the hell are you doing here!" Mello roared.

There was still a chance that this was a dream. Sure his ears were in pain, but that was from experience and expectation. He expected that Mello would explode if he ever saw Near, and he'd experienced the pain of having his friend yell in his ear more than often.

Dream, dream, dream, dream...

_Aww, come on! Why does Near get to have a cute girl play with his hair, but not me?_

This was an awfully sucky dream.

Dream-Roger stood up. "Boys, there you were! We couldn't find any trace of you for a whole month, so we finally had Near take a look; he tracked you to this apartment. The young lady was kind enough to inform us where you'd been."

The aforementioned boy was sitting on the floor playing with a blank puzzle, with Sakura sitting on the couch directly behind him. Near's back lightly brushed against her legs as the pinkette's fingers playfully twisted his white curls into twin devil horns.

Matt stiffened at the sudden waves of unadulterated hatred crashing around him.

Was it Mello? Or Backup?

Matt glanced behind him.

It was both. Mello for obvious reasons (Near) and B for different but equally obvious reasons (Sakura was intimately touching another male). All straggling hopes of this being a dream were dashed into a million pieces.

That level of loathing was unduplicable.

B silkily murmured, "_Who said you could touch him... Sa-ku-ra?_" at the same time that Mello yelled, "I'm not going anywhere with _Near_!"

Sakura glared at B and gave a lock of Near's hair one last rebellious twirl. She then turned to Roger.

"Sorry, I'm being an awful host. Would you like some more tea?"

"That would be wonderful, thank you."

Sakura picked up a teacup and a empty glass off the coffee table. As she went off into the kitchen, Roger continued his earlier lecture, but in English. "_You have to, Mello. Running off to Japan without a word, what were you three thinking? Do you know how worried we were? What made you think this was a good idea? Imagine what Watari would say about this! L would be ashamed of having you as his successors._"

Matt didn't particularly care how ashamed L would supposedly be, but Mello was obviously furious at the words. B, on the other hand, was glowering in the direction of the kitchen.

The gamer decided that he'd never seen anything as demonic as B looked at that moment, and was more than relieved when Sakura stomped back out.

"Here," she said, shoving a jar of strawberry jam at the demon - er, at Backup. She made her way to the coffee table and placed her tray - bearing five different beverages - down, sliding a steaming cup in front of Roger and a tall glass of ice tea in front of Near. She grabbed a watermelon smoothie for herself and plopped right back to the position she was in when they'd first come in, playing with Near's hair again without a second thought.

Matt cautiously watched as B stared intently at Sakura, the jar gripped tight in his hand. The psychopath was clearly determining whether or not he was still mad.

Luckily for the health of everyone involved, he settled on 'not mad' and went over to sit beside Sakura, leaning against her as he popped the jam's lid open.

* * *

After Roger-san finally convinced Mello to board the same place as Near, and Sakura had dealt with Beatus's reluctance to leave with the assurance that he could come next summer, the motley collection relocated to the front entrance of Sakura's apartment building.

"Matt, Mello, I really am glad we met. Feel free to come visit next year too."

"You aren't so bad yourself," Mello told her, smirking. He waved over his shoulder as he got into the waiting car.

Matt grinned and surreptitiously handed her a mobile. "Unattributable, unbillable, untraceable, untappable, unstoppable, all that good stuff. The only number in there is mine. Feel free to hit me up." He winked and got into the car as well.

"Don't call him. No, on second thought call him often, and ask for me." Beatus glared after the goggled boy from where he was draped over her, before squeezing her tight. "Chibi-chan, I'll miss you!"

"Me too," she said. Surprisingly, it was only half a lie. He grinned at her - really, he was getting better at that, it only made her a _little _queasy- and sauntered off.

And then there were two.

Near stood in front of her, his feet clad only in socks despite standing on the cement sidewalk.

"Goodbye, Fuyuno Sakura."

She blinked.

He knew her name?

… Of course he did. The trio had called her name several times, and her family name was in the intercom system. It wasn't exactly a difficult stretch.

"Goodbye. I hope we'll meet again someday, Near-san."

"Hope will not be necessary," he told her, before padding towards the car.

The black vehicle drove away, and Sakura stared after it, wondering what Near meant.

* * *

**Fuyuno Sakura** - age 12, 2nd year junior high

**Matt** - age 12, education unknown

**Mello** - age 12, education unknown

**BB** - age 15, education unknown

**Near **- age 10, education unknown

* * *

**AN**

Near's birthday would have been the next day. He's one year younger than Sakura, not two. And he may have looked like he wasn't paying attention to the interaction between Sakura and B, but believe me, he was. Very much so. That's actually the reason he said that last thing that he said. (lol)

SHEEP BOY GOT THE HAIR FONDLING TREATMENT WHOOO

The five beverages: Earl Grey tea (Roger), sweet ice tea (Near), Mountain Dew (Matt), chocolate milk (Mello), watermelon smoothie (Sakura)

She's much more subtle about her food cravings than Mello or BB or L, but Sakura seriously loves watermelon. A lot. None of that stereotypical strawberry or cherry stuff, it's watermelon all the way yo.

Man, I'm on a roll. Expect the next update soon. At most, 6 hours. (This means it'll be 12 X)

**Reviews**

Candy Dream: That's precisely it! Lots and _lots _of tsun tsun. XD

animagirl: Thanks! There's no specific end pairing - or at least I won't decide on it so early on - but rest assured, there will be LightSaku.


	17. Age 12 - Angel of Retribution

**September 21, 2002**

**4 years, 2 months, 2 days prior to Incident**

* * *

She'd printed out a list of all Noguchi Gyous, Ueno Arakis, Sugimoto Shous and Onishi Asahis in Tokyo, and then asked Kaito to point out the photos of the men that had attacked him.

Noguchi Gyou and Ueno Araki were easily located in this manner, but she'd had to keep widening the field of search until the last two were finally found... in Kyoto. Surprisingly, Sugimoto Shou and Onishi Asahi were both high school students. Unsurprisingly, they were both well-hated bullies.

She couldn't kill them both at once, that would be too suspicious. She'd have to hunt one of them down today, and return to the other one after a few more months.

Her chosen victim for now was Sugimoto Shou, 19, a third year in high school. He had great physical strength, but wasn't very intelligent; he'd failed senior year and was retaking it so that he could go to community college.

An easy enough target.

* * *

Mikami Teru cried out in pain as he was shoved against the brick wall. The face of one of his most violent bullies filled up his entire line of sight.

"You're a dumb little shit, thinking that _you _could save anyone." Sugimoto Shou smirked. "Look, the shrimp's already run off - so much for being grateful, huh?" He reared an arm back and smashed it into his victim's stomach, driving himself forward with the entirety of his 86 kilograms.

Teru's head cracked against the brick from the force, knocking his glasses askew. He coughed harshly and crumpled into himself as he was dropped to his feet. Before he could catch his breath, a booted foot flew towards him.

Teru winced and prepared for impact, his lungs heaving.

There was a rush of wind, and then... nothing.

The seventeen year old cracked an eye open, clutching at his violently throbbing abdomen with an arm as he peered up.

In front of him stood a strange figure, covered completely in black. Their height was questionable, as was their build, and Teru's eyes couldn't properly focus on them, even after he fixed his glasses.

"Sugimoto Shou," they said. The voice was some strange amalgamation of soprano and tenor, making it impossible to judge the gender. "On July 26, you attacked a young boy with blue hair. Do you remember that day?"

"Yeah, some psycho came in and started killing everyone. Was that you?"

"So you remember. That's good. At least you'll know why this has to happen, Sugimoto-san. You will suffer for your actions."

"What the fuck are you on about, you loony?"

The stranger did something with their hands that Teru couldn't see.

"_Magen: Chishi Akumu no Jutsu_."*

Sugimoto's eyes went impossibly wide as he stumbled away from the figure. Pathetic whimpers escaped from his throat.

"No, no, no, NO PLEASE NO- " he clutched at his head and began to convulse. "ARHHHH - !"

"Tsk, so noisy. You'll attract attention." The stranger did something else with their hands and the noises coming from Sugimoto were suddenly silenced, though Teru could clearly see his mouth wide open and his adam's apple trembling with his screams. Trials of saliva were starting to meander down his jaw line, intermingling with his tears as they formed dark blotches on the dry cement.

"Kuh - " Teru doubled over from the sudden surge of white hot pain from his stomach.

_It hurts, it hurts, it HURTS!_

"Here, let me see that," he heard a girl's voice say. Teru looked up. The figure in black had lost their strange blurriness - instead, in front of him stood what was obviously a girl, short and slim and significantly younger than him. Her face was hidden by the shadows of her hood.

"How - " he coughed again and let out a low groan.

She swatted his hands away and replaced them with her own tiny ones. Teru watched in fascination as the pale appendages glowed green.

"Let's see... Internal hemorrhaging from trauma in the liver. That guy used to pack quite a punch, huh?"

Noting her use of past tense, Mikami Teru glanced at where Sugimoto had been, only to see that a large mass was slumped on the ground, streams of blood oozing lazily from both forearms. He held a knife - a knife that Teru was rather familiar with - in one loose fist, announcing to the world that he'd taken his own life.

"It should be fine now," the girl said, straightening up.

To Teru's shock, it was. There was no residual pain, nothing to suggest that he'd ever been hurt in the first place, let alone so grievously.

"Are you a God?" he asked, awed.

She snorted. "Hardly. Anyway, you should get out of here quickly, before anyone sees you and thinks _you _killed him. I checked for cameras and there weren't any, so you should be fine as long as you don't mention this to anyone."

She turned to leave, and then stopped. "By the way, you can't tell anyone about me or my existence. Don't let anyone know about what I did today. In fact, swear that you'll pretend that this event never happened."

"I swear," Teru hurriedly said. He watched as the girl seemed to fly up the building and onto the roof. She shot off into the distance, becoming fuzzy once more.

As he aimlessly wandered around the city, Teru pondered over the strange occurrence.

The concept of the girl's divinity had been met with scorn, but there was _something_…

The feats she had been capable of were impossible for any normal human, and the way she had judiciously punished Sugimoto Shou would not leave his mind.

"_You can't tell anyone about my existence_," she'd said.

So if she wasn't a God, and she wasn't a human...

Then she must be an angel. One with the authority to exact judgement on God's behalf.

Yes, that was precisely it, he decided. He'd just met an Angel of Retribution, face to face. God truly existed, and He'd allowed Teru the honour of witnessing proof of His fair nature.

Mikami Teru finally jogged home, a satisfied smirk playing along his lips.

* * *

**Fuyuno Sakura** - age 12, 2nd year junior high

**Mikami Teru** - age 17, 2nd year high school

* * *

*_**Demonic Illusion: Lethal Nightmare Jutsu.**_ _The user brings the opponent under a genjutsu that drowns out all of their senses with their fears, nightmares and phobias. This compilation of horrifying mental and physical torture causes the victim to enter a state of panic and terror. The victims are eventually cast into complete madness, and are then urged to commit suicide by the genjutsu._

* * *

**AN**

The technique comes from my brain and google translate. Sakura used more chakra on it than she expected, so she had to undo one of her current jutsus if she wanted to heal the innocent bystander. Which she does, because she used to be a Konoha-nin, not to mention Naruto's teammate and Tsunade's student.

This chapter came earlier than I expected. I was going to do a Light chapter first, but mid-chapter, I realised that it would take several 'days' for that particular thing to play out - plus, all the better if Christmas is involved. :3

I spend quite a bit of time fixing minor mistakes in the previous chapters. Do you guys get alerts every time I do that? 'Cos if you do I'll have to stop doing it, since I don't want to annoyingly spam your inboxes.

Among other things, I had to fix a few errors in the 'prior to Incident' countdown:

Sense and sensibility (ch 11) by 2 days

A Whole New World of Rage (ch 15) by 1 day

Clouds of Ambiguous Form (ch 16) by 1 month

I am 5000% tempted to make a Durarara cameo in the story. You don't even know how much I want to do it. Imagine, having Sakura meet Izaya and Shizuo during one of their famous fights… Watermelon would be involved. I WANT TO DO IT. WAHHHH

**Review Reply**

Candy Dream: I now realize I wrote dere dere instead of tsun tsun in my last reply to you. Oopsies.

Guest: So does he, hahaha. And yay!

Yayui: What is it with you and reviews that make me grin like an idiot?! X3


	18. Age 12 - Tumbling Twisting Freewheeling

**December 20, 2002**

**3 years, 11 months, 3 days prior to Incident**

* * *

As Sakura ambled to her usual lunch spot, she was accosted by three glowering school girls.

They herded her into an empty stairway, with a set of stairs going down directly behind Sakura. The two other girls stood sentinel at each end of the hallway as the lead loomed over Sakura.

"Look." The girl tossed her dyed blond hair over a shoulder. "I don't know who you think you are, but stay away from Light-kun if you know what's good for you."

"I think I'm Fuyuno Sakura, the second year's top ranked student," Sakura remarked wryly. "And I don't see why you feel threatened by me, Watanabe-senpai."

"Threatened? By you? Don't you know who I am?!"

"Watanabe Momoko, voted the prettiest third year in Daikoku Junior High. Your father is Watanabe Yamato, the wealthy owner of a furniture chain. You were accepted into Daikoku despite your average grades due to the backing of your father's money," Sakura listed.

The upperclassman snarled unpleasantly.

"Anyway, I'm not remotely interested in Light, nor is he in me. Our relationship is platonic, based on mutual interests and goals rather than any sort of romantic attachment."

"I don't care _what_ your relationship is with him. I don't want to see you within ten feet of him, you eyesore! Is that clear?"

Sakura blinked. "That's probably going to be impossible. We're in all the same classes, and I happen to be his preferred partner for group assignments," she said. The pinkette then smiled teasingly and tilted her head. "But I'd be willing do it for the measly sum of 20000 yen a month."

"Like hell I'd give _you_ any of my money," Watanabe spat.

_Ah_. So daddy wasn't doing too well.

Watanabe-senpai was the type to spend a waste a great amount of money on trivial matters; for her to refuse this kind of request didn't bode well for her father's business. No wonder she'd gotten angry at Sakura mentioning the company.

"I was going to just let you off with a warning if you agreed to do as I said, but now I'm pissed off." The blonde smirked before leaning forward and shoving harshly at Sakura with both hands.

For a millisecond, Sakura didn't budge at all. Then she realised that, considering the strength behind the push, it would be abnormal not to at least stumble.

But the stairs were behind her, and to stumble would mean to fall a great height. The railing was too far to grab.

She could do a backflip and land herself safely, but that would be an impossible feat for a normal person. She could jump and stick herself on the wall, but again, impossible for a normal person.

Sakura rapidly thought up any number of things that she could do to stop the fall whilst avoiding attention... but then she spotted the surveillance camera on the ceiling.

_Idiot_.

Sakura let herself fall, her smirk hidden by the long pink hair softly fluttering in her descent.

* * *

Light stared in confusion at Sakura's empty seat. When she hadn't come up to the roof at lunch, he'd assumed that maybe something important had come up. Now he couldn't help but wonder if something was wrong. Her bag and belongings were still at her desk, but there was no sign of Sakura.

Light raised his hand. "Sensei."

The teacher stopped mid-lecture, taken aback at the interruption from one of his best students. "Yes, Light?"

"Do you know what's happened to Sakura?"

"Ah, unfortunately, Sakura-kun had a nasty fall down the stairs and had to be sent to the hospital."

The class fell into a mild state of shock at the news.

"I... see."

The teacher continued his lecture, but, though his hand automatically took notes, Light wasn't listening anymore. Sakura had fallen down the stairs? Impossible. The girl had an exceptional sense of balance. He didn't think he'd ever seen her trip over anything, except for the time she collided into him their first meeting.

Light suspected foul play. Being as rash as she was, Sakura had quite a few enemies in the school, not to mention her number one rank garnered a fair amount of jealousy.

When school was finally over, Light gathered up Sakura's belongings and convinced the teacher to give him directions to the hospital.

* * *

"Who was it?" Light asked as soon as he strode into the room.

He stopped short at the sight of Sakura in a hospital gown, her forehead swathed in red-stained bandages. She was holding an ice pack to her head.

Sakura, however, didn't miss a beat. "Watanabe Momo."

"Oh, _her_. Do you need me to talk to her?"

"No... she's being punished by the... principal. We... were caught on camera..."

"It'll be either suspension or expulsion, then, depending on the principal's mood. On the one hand, her father is capable of paying for a more lenient penalty, but on the other, you're much too valuable to the school's reputation."

"... Watanabe-san won't be greasing any palms today," she told him. "Seems... like his furniture isn't selling too well."

"Expulsion then."

Sakura blinked several times. "Yes. Yeah. Whatever." She yawned.

"Sakura."

"What?"

"What's 14 multiplied by 18?"

"It's... it's, um... ugh... Dunno... Does it matter?" It did matter; she could usually do the calculation in less than a second. She clearly had a concussion, now that he thought about it. "Whatever, I'm tired."

"Wait, don't go to sleep yet."

Light reached over and pressed the call button.

* * *

Once every third weekday, Sakura left a kage bunshin henged to look like Fuyuno Megumi in the apartment while she went to school, to maintain the illusion that the Fuyuno children had a parent. There was a two in three chance that there would be no one to act as Fuyuno Megumi that day, as Sakura was currently in no state to do any jutsu over academy level, or any kind of acting at all.

So it was a stroke of incredible luck that Sakura had created a Mama Fuyuno just that morning.

"Fuyuno-chan, your mother signed the discharge papers when she came in earlier. You'll have to stay overnight so we can observe you, but you can leave in the morning if there are no other complications. Is there someone who'll come to pick you up tomorrow?"

"... My mum."

"Sakura, your family doesn't have a car."

"Oh no," the nurse said. "That won't do, she needs to avoid exercise as much as possible."

Sakura hummed noncommittally.

Light spoke up instead. "I'll be there with my father, miss. We'll drive her back home."

"Ara, that's great, now we've settled the problem. Fuyuno-kun is a lucky girl to have such a caring boyfriend."

Sakura stared at her blankly as Light protested, "Ah, no - "

"No need to be embarrassed, boyfriend-san," the nurse giggled. "Visiting hours are over in half an hour, so make sure to kiss Fuyuno-chan goodbye before then!"

As she left, the two students could hear the nurse sighing, "Ah, young love..."

Sakura blinked sleepily as Light gave an awkward cough.

* * *

**Fuyuno Sakura** - age 12, 2nd year junior high

**Yagami Light** - age 13, 2nd year junior high

* * *

**AN**

Sakura overestimated her physical durability. Because of the concussion, she can't concentrate long enough to heal her head (the brain is too complicated to handle with anything but the utmost of care), so she'll have to deal with only slightly quickened healing of a very serious injury until she recovers enough to heal herself properly. (In all actuality though, the only reason Sakura's not much worse than this is because of her chakra.)

Sick girl. Romance fiction. You know what that means! :D

There are so many shoujo clichés in this chapter. D:

Somehow... someway... Izaya and Shizuo will be included. I SWEAR IT :O


	19. Age 12 - Hush Little Baby

**December 21, 2002**

**3 years, 11 months, 2 days prior to Incident**

* * *

"Light."

"Yes?"

"I'm bored."

"The nurse said no walking, no reading, no watching television, no studying, no doing homework, no working on the computer, and no listening to music. You should sleep."

"I _know_ that already! God, you're so annoying!" Sakura snapped.

The nurse had also told him she may be more irritable than usual, so Light remained unperturbed by her outburst. "I'm just making sure you don't hurt yourself, Sakura."

"I know... I'm sorry, I know you're trying your best." To Light's alarm, the pinkette's eyes began to fill with tears. "You're a much better friend than I deserve, you know?"

Sakura began to sniffle and rub at her eyes with her sleeved hands.

Light cleared his throat and shifted in discomfort. It was one thing to be _told_ that she would be significantly more emotional, but an entirely different thing to actually have to witness Sakura's tears.

In the almost 3 years he'd known her, Light had never once seen Sakura tear up.

(Their class had watched the American movie "The Shawshank Redemption" back in April. Every girl and at least two-thirds of the guys could be seen with moisture in their eyes... but not Sakura. She had remained unphased throughout the entire movie, only perking up to answer the English teacher's questions at the end of class.)

That very same Sakura was now trying her best to stop her streaming tears, to no avail. Light wasn't even sure what she was crying about, but he did know that he felt miserably useless at the sight of it.

Light leaned over and tentatively patted her on the back. "That's not true at all, Sakura. Think of how much you've done for me?"

This just made her cry harder, and Light wanted to groan in frustration.

_Why is she crying?!_

Alright, if she couldn't be reasoned with, he would use the tried-and-true Big Brother Method and hope for the best.

_This isn't Sakura, this is Sayu. Sayu's just scraped her knee and is crying. Okaa-san's out to market and otou-san's at the station. It's my duty as her big brother to comfort her._

The brunet slid onto the bed and gathered Sakura up in his arms. He methodically smoothed his hand up and down her back and murmured, "It's okay... it's fine... you're fine... I've got you…"

As the tears slowed, he tucked her head under his chin, gently rocking her back and forth as he hummed Sayu's favourite childhood lullaby. Eventually, the tears stopped flowing and Sakura drifted off to sleep, still tucked into Light's arms.

Light was left wondering if Sakura had always been this tiny.

* * *

**Fuyuno Sakura** - age 12, 2nd year junior high

**Yagami Light** - age 13, 2nd year junior high

* * *

**AN**

- I did some studying about concussions; apparently, they can make you grouchy and irritable, or cry easily, or have mood swings, so I incorporated it into the story. It works out for the best, since I need the two to be super close later on - nothing to bring people closer like tears.

- Unknown to Light, Sakura wasn't just crying about the current situation. The Sakaki part of her had emerged: this was about her dead parents (whom she never got to mourn), the people she's killed, the people she will kill, the hardships of living without parents, etc.

- There were Japanese subtitles while they were watching the movie, so all of the students understood what was happening.

I made a google doc for those (coughCandyDreamcough) who want to know about the deities involved in the story, or want some insight into what was happening in the very first chapter. For those who don't want to go see it, just think of buddhism, just a few details changed. (I'm still not sure if the gods will play a big part in the story, so it's as of yet unimportant.)

Take out the asterisks:

docs.*google.*com*/document/d/12vIXrEeFjT9v6lSf8du_GsNVjvcgaNQZFdPWBhDnssw/edit?usp=sharing

Candy Dream: There you go, madam, I have given you your answer. It wasn't a literal 'cutting of the string', haha.


	20. Age 12 - The Offer That Wasn't An Offer

**December 23, 2002**

**3 years, 11 months, 0 days prior to Incident**

* * *

"So, Sakura-chan, what are you doing for Christmas? Are you celebrating with your mother?"

Sakura handed Light's mother a measuring cup, filled with exactly 50 milliliters of Chinese cooking wine.

"My mom's in America right now, on business. She says she can't come back in time for Christmas, so my siblings and I are probably just going to watch TV and sleep a lot."

Yagami-san lowered her wooden spoon and gasped in horror.

"That's awful, Sakura-chan! That won't do at all. You know what, you and your little brother and sister should come over on Christmas Eve and have dinner with us. We'll be like a great big family, you can even stay over!"

Sakura's protests of, "Eh? No, it's totally fine!" went thoroughly ignored.

"Oh, there was this recipe that I've been dying to try out. Soichiro and the kids always just say 'the food is fine', so I have no idea what they're actually thinking! It'll be nice to have a new reaction, you know?"

Sakura hung her head in defeat and quietly handed Yagami-san the bowl of chopped cucumbers.

* * *

**Fuyuno Sakura** - age 12, 2nd year junior high

* * *

**AN**

You guys keep asking for longer chapters, but I can't. D:

I've backed myself into a corner with the whole 'one date per chapter thing', and the chapters can only be as long as the number and level of detail in the important events of that one day.

To make up for this super short chapter, here is Sakura's personal data. I used a bit of her info from her profile on Naruto wiki and made the rest up myself. Her weight and height are lower than they were in canon because of malnutrition during childhood, resulting in somewhat stunted growth.

* * *

**Fuyuno Sakura**

**True Name**

_[unintelligible scribble]_

**Also Known As**

Fuyuno Sakaki

Haruno Sakura

Shi no Kage

Chibi-chan

Pinky

Angel of Retribution

Hana

**Blood Type**

O

**Date of Birth**

March 28, 1990

**Age**

4 - 16 prior to Incident

16 + after Incident

**Height**

147 cm (12 yo) - 154 cm (13 yo)

158 cm (16 - 17 yo)

**Weight**

35.1 kg (12 yo) - 35.6 (13 yo)

45 kg (16 yo)

**Family**

Haruno Kizashi (father; deceased)

Haruno Mebuki (mother; deceased)

Fuyuno Kiyoshi (father; deceased)

Fuyuno Megumi (mother; deceased but legally listed as alive)

Fuyuno Kaito (younger brother, adopted)

Fuyuno Mikuro (younger sister, adopted)

**Stats**

Intelligence 7/10

Creativity 8/10

Initiative 6/10

Emotional Strength 10/10

Social Skills 7/10

**Other Stats**

Bleeding Heart 9/10

Moral Integrity 3/10

Bossiness 8/10

**Notes**

- Is afraid of disapproval from authority figures.

- Almost always sides with the underdog.

- Often turns around afterwards and scolds said underdog for not standing up for themselves.

- Constantly gets into altercations with bullies, to Yagami Light's chagrin. Usually remains unscathed, however. Usually

- Has low consideration of human life, unless that human is someone she has some level of fondness for.

**Sakura's back story**

The original Fuyuno family were all listed as alive when Sakura first came into this universe: when the parents died and the kid ran off, no one bothered to tell the police, since they were only a poor family who lived in the slums. The police probably wouldn't have cared anyway.

Around two years after Sakura was 'born' into the universe, she began taking mercenary jobs. Around that time, she registered Fuyuno Kiyoshi (her 'father') as having died from a severe bout of influenza, but kept Fuyuno Megumi (her 'mother') legally alive as a self-employed business woman who often went overseas (the details are unspecified).

This was because:

A. Sakura didn't want to go to an orphanage.

AND

B. It's highly suspicious if a kid is earning money for herself.

So Sakura's income as a mercenary officially became Megumi's income as a business woman, with Megumi being acted out by a henged kage bunshin when necessary.

When Sakura was 7, she earned enough to buy herself a proper apartment. When she was 8, she was comfortable enough with her finances to start attending school. Since she had missed several years of education, the school had her take a test to see which grade she would need to go into. For the sake of appearing like normal child, Sakura purposely dumbed down her answers, but not quite enough - instead of being put in fourth year, as would be natural for her age, she was pushed up to fifth, thereby skipping a grade.

Kaito and Miku weren't part of the Japanese legal system in the first place, both being abandoned at childhood and birth, respectively. Neither of them were born in hospitals, nor were their births officially registered. Sakura had to do quite a bit of genjutsu to quicken the adoption process, but they were both eventually adopted properly. Kaito had to miss a year of school due to this, and entered first grade at age 7, instead of age 6. Miku encountered no such problem, being only 4 and therefore not yet being required to receive education yet.


	21. Age 12 - Seven's A Family

**December 24, 2002**

**3 years, 10 months, 30 days prior to Incident**

* * *

"Take that!"

"Ha, you missed." _Splat_. "Ah! Cold, cold, cold!"

Sakura blew on the surface of her hot chocolate, shifted her woolen blanket around her shoulders, and pouted. "This sucks. I want to play too."

"Maybe next year," Light consoled, sipping at his own drink.

She groaned. "That's too _long_. Stupid Watanabe-senpai. Stupid concussion. Stupid bruise. Stupid ankle. Pff."

Sakura stopped complaining when Miku began to stumble over to them. "Onee-sama, onii-sama."

Light could never get used to the way Sakura's little sister called him 'sama'.

"Yes, Miku-chan?"

"Look." The little girl pointed at the two snowmen she'd made. One had a pink scarf around its head and the other wore a black knitted scarf, similar to the one he was wearing right now. Their twig hands were intertwined.

"Ara, Miku-chan, that's so cute!"

Light could see Sakura startling at the sudden appearance of his mother, her hot chocolate splashing over the side of the mug. He sighed and reached over with a napkin to wipe up the beads of liquid before they could drip off.

Sakura smiled at him in thanks before patting Miku's head. "Good job, Miku."

The young girl gave a rare grin.

"Oh, right. Kids! Dinner's ready!"

Sayu and Kaito perked up and raced to the veranda, eager to stuff themselves with food. Light got up more leisurely and helped Sakura wobble back into his house.

* * *

With the younger children having gone off to watch TV, Light, his parents, and Sakura were the last to get up from the dinner table.

"Are you sure you don't need any help?"

"No, no, no." His mom waggled her finger. "Sakura-chan, you're injured, you have to rest. My husband and I will clear up the table, don't you worry."

"If you're sure..."

"Come on, Sakura." Light helped Sakura slowly make her way up the stairs, being mindful of her sprained ankle as they made their way to his room.

When they finally reached it, Sakura plopped herself on his bed. She rolled around on it a bit before turning to rest on her side, facing the far wall.

"You... You have the Japanese version of _A Tale of Two Cities_," she told him after a few moments, sounding a little dumbfounded.

"Yes?"

"I have been looking for one of those _everywhere_, and you had it. Just hiding away in your room. Right there."

"You should have asked me, I would have let you borrow it."

"I want to borrow it."

"Not _now_. You aren't allowed to do any extensive reading, remember?"

"Just this once?"

"No."

"But I've been looking for months and months!"

"No."

"Pleeease?"

"No." Seeing Sakura's shoulders slump and the corners of her lips unhappily tilt downwards, he continued, "But I can read it aloud to you, if you like."

She immediately brightened. "Really? You'd do that?"

"Of course."

The grin she gave him made his own mouth tug into a smile in response.

* * *

"_He called himself for the plaintiff, there was no getting over his evidence, the counsel for the defendant threw up his brief, and the jury did not even turn to consider. After trying it, Stryver, C. J., was satisfied that no plainer case could be_."

Out of the corner of his eye, Light could see pink bobbing up and down.

He smiled and used his free hand to tilt her head towards his shoulder.

After pulling his blanket up over her shoulders and tucking the edges around her sleeping form, he continued, "... _Accordingly, Mr. Stryver decided to begin his long vacation with a formal offer to take Miss Manette to Vauxhall Gardens. If that didn't work, he would take her to Ranelagh. If that failed too, he would go to her house in Soho and tell her how he felt about her there_..."

* * *

Yagami Sachiko smiled softly at the sweet vision that met her eyes.

A fast asleep Light was leaning against the headboard with Sakura-chan cuddled into his right side, her pink hair spilling over his shoulder. Her son's head leaned lightly against the pinkette's, and his hand covered hers where it lay on the bed. There was an open book limply grasped in his other hand.

Sachiko quietly made her way downstairs, intent on grabbing another blanket for Light and a camera to capture the moment.

* * *

**Fuyuno Sakura** - age 12, 2nd year junior high

**Yagami Light** - age 13, 2nd year junior high

**Yagami Sayu** - age 10, 4th year elementary

**Fuyuno Kaito** - age 9, 3rd year elementary

**Fuyuno Miku** - age 6, kindergarten

* * *

**AN**

Actually, Sayu and Kaito should be in the same grade, but, you know, Kaito missed a grade and all that.

Light is so sweet. Like... GUH. Why does he become such an asshole later? It makes me sad. And why is he only 13? No normal 13 year old boy should be so perfect. Pff.

Oh, and I forgot to mention - last chapter, the reason why Sakura was helping Mrs. Yagami with the cooking is because she needs to be observed for any complications until she's healed, but the Yagamis know that there's no one home to watch Sakura. While Light is at school, Sakura has to stay in the Yagami house so Sachiko can watch over her. Being utterly bored and not allowed to do anything mentally or sensationally taxing (reading, studying, watching TV, playing video games, etc.), Sakura decided to help Sachiko by measuring out all the necessary ingredients for her while she cooks. I imagine that Sachiko gets lonely at home by herself, so she's probably glad to have Sakura there.


	22. Age 12 - Most Violent Time of The Year

**December 25, 2002**

**3 years, 10 months, 29 days prior to Incident**

* * *

Sakura brought a glowing hand to her forehead and managed to focus on the intricate workings of her brain with only minimum difficulty.

She'd been arrogant. Used to thinking herself as invulnerable, she hadn't believed she would be seriously hurt from that kind of fall. Sakura had forgotten that this body wasn't a finely honed weapon like her previous body had been; she was young and fragile now, easily breakable.

She needed to remember that.

* * *

"_One particular serial killer, aptly known as the Shi no Kage, or the Shadow of Death, has long terrorized the people of Japan. The criminal is infamous for silently entering high security rooms and leaving no traces of their presence but for a dead body. Those who have previously inspected scenes of the Kage's murders agree that it almost seems as if the shadows themselves had reached out, leaving a single, fatal, incision across the throats of their victims. Forensic investigator Iryou Sosa, whose report was the first such description of the Kage, was the one who coined the name that soon became the culturally accepted title for this evasive murderer._

_Police are still no closer to catching the Kage than when he or she first came into emergence around 1997. Even some of the best detectives in Japan and the world admit to being stumped by the killer, and have been unable to find any relation between the many victims. The Kage's motives remain largely unknown, but it is theorized that perhaps they are some sort of escapist savant with a deep seated psychological defect that compels them to kill; more informally, many people believe that the Kage is not human, and that perhaps he or she is an actual manifestation of the shadows, an inhuman entity exacting revenge on humanity for various wrongdoings of an unspecified nature. Whatever the case may be..._"

"I hope they catch that guy soon. Imagine, six years of deaths, one after the other, going unpunished like this... Capital punishment would be too good for him. What do you think, Sakura?"

Actually, it was seven years, but she wouldn't correct him.

"I think I'm going to kick you," Sakura said. "If you don't get off me in five seconds."

"You're kidding, right?"

"Five."

"I'm _on_ your legs, how are you going to kick me?"

"Four."

"Stop it."

"Three."

"Sakura."

"Two."

"That's creeping me out."

"One."

Light rolled off her legs just in time to miss the knee that would have implanted itself into his face.

"You could've broken my nose!"

"Well I warned you, didn't I?"

* * *

"Matt."

"Ah, Sakura-chan!"

There was a series of crashes, and she could hear Mello shouting "_Hey, watch where you're going_!"

"Chibi-chan! I missed you~! I thought you would never call!"

"Beatus. You could have called me, if you missed me that much."

"Well, no, he couldn't have, 'cause then they'd trace the call to you."

"Is that an actual problem for you guys? I thought you just went to a boarding school. Is it a top secret military boarding school or something?"

"Um. Yes? Yes, that's exactly what it is! Shhh, but don't tell anyone."

That was a barefaced lie, one so obvious that it was almost painful.

"Don't worry, you can count on me," Sakura told Matt wryly.

She could hear Mello saying, "_You idiot, she clearly doesn't believe you_."

"_She totally does_!"

The pinkette could almost hear the responding eye roll. She _did_ hear the clink of plates, however.

"Are you guys eating breakfast?"

"Yeah. I wouldn't be in the same room as the psycho otherwise."

"Ara, I think I was just insulted by Number Two-san."

"Shut up!" Mello roared.

Sakura interrupted before a fight could break out. "Anyway, I just called to wish you guys a Merry Christmas."

"Oh, is it Christmas? Merry Christmas Chibi-chan!"

Matt spoke up. "What did you think the tree was for?"

"I don't pay much attention to what you trash are doing everyday."

"You fucking - !"

"Anyway. Have a good Christmas you guys. Tell Near for me too."

"No need, Fuyuno-san. I bid you a happy Christmas as well."

"WHEN THE FUCK DID YOU GET THERE?!"

Sakura hung up, not sure willing to take anymore abuse on her poor eardrums.

* * *

**Fuyuno Sakura** - age 12, 2nd year junior high

**Yagami Light** - age 13, 2nd year junior high

**Matt** - age 12, education unknown

**BB** - age 16, education unknown

**Mello** - age 13, education unknown

**Near** - age 11, education unknown

* * *

**AN**

The first scene: Sakura woke up before Light and healed her head while he was sleeping. She then went back to sleep.

The second scene: Sakura woke up for the second time that morning to find herself in Light's bed, with Light laying on her legs to watch TV.

Japan's time is 8 hours faster than UK time.

I'm not describing any presents because I'm lazy. Use your imagination.

Redrose is awesome for being the only person to review last chapter. :3


	23. Age 13 - Bleeding Heart Syndrome

**May 4, 2003**

**3 years, 6 months, 19 days prior to Incident**

* * *

"Thought you could tattle on me, you fucking nark?!" Onishi Asahi roared. Four of his cronies stood supportively at his back, all in various states of inebriation.

"If you hadn't cheated, I wouldn't have had to inform the authorities," Mikami Teru said calmly. He was relatively certain that he could beat the idiot on a one-on-one fight, but he was sorely outnumbered, and at least two of them had some sort of weapon.

"Let's see what 'the authorities' will say once I'm done with you. Who wants to see me beat this fucker into a pulp?!"

There was a drunken cheer and Onishi happily chugged down the rest of his beer, throwing the empty bottle at his victim's head.

Teru ducked.

The glass shattered on the wall behind him, and though he managed to avoid a head injury, Teru couldn't protect himself from the flying shards that embedded themselves into his skin. He grimaced. It was going to be nearly impossible to get those out later.

"Stay still you little weas - " Onishi suddenly vomited violently onto the asphalt, to the amusement of his friends. Teru crinkled his nose in disgust. _So base_.

However, he couldn't help raising a brow in interest when Onishi fell to the ground and started convulsing heavily, stomach acid still leaking out of his mouth.

"Holy shit!"

"Is he dying?"

"Leave him, let's just get out of here!"

_No loyalty amongst thieves_, Teru thought, still observing the shaking Onishi.

"Onishi Asahi. The last one. Finally."

Teru narrowed his eyes. Where had that come from? It sounded... familiar. A strange mix of tenor and soprano.

_Perhaps..._

A flash of black, and a blurry figure stood above Onishi's now prone body.

"What happened to him?"

"Poison. I slipped it in his beer earlier."

"So he's dead?"

"Of course. Who do you think I am?"

"An angel," Teru responded promptly. "You must be."

"What?" The figure turned to - he assumed - look at him. "What kind of angel kills people?"

"The kind that is responsible for doling out judgment."

"I - no. I'm not sure why you think that. Anyway, why are you here?"

"He was trying to attack me."

"_Again_? Why do all these guys hate you so much?"

"I saved someone from Sugimoto, and he beat me instead. As for Onishi, he was cheating on a test and I reported him."

"You're an idiot. Why would you do that if you're just going to be hurt for no reason?" Teru's eyes turned cold, the memory of his mother's betrayal echoing in his ears. "Standing up for the weak, doing what's right; I can understand that, commend it, even. But you're going about it all wrong."

He relaxed, since it didn't seem like Tenshi-sama would walk the same path as his mother - and then blinked in confusion. "What?"

"Look. How many times have you been hurt trying to stop other people from doing bad things?"

He couldn't remember.

"And how many times did they just go back to doing the same thing?"

Nearly every single time.

"This is what we call winning the battle, but losing the war. Sure, you were able to help that once... but then they beat you up and just go back to doing it. What's the point?"

Teru opened his mouth to speak, but the angel raised a hand.

"There isn't one, because you're using the idiot's method of making a difference. The most important thing about doing something dangerous is this: don't get caught. Don't ever get caught. Rash actions and direct confrontations are only possible for those who are 100% sure they have the power to _win_. Pride or gratitude or whatever, they're all unimportant when compared to your ability to keep doing what only you can do. If you're hurt, if you're incapacitated, if you're _dead_, how can you keep helping? You can't. It's over. You've lost the war."

"What can I do, then? What else can I possibly do?"

"You think things out. You plan ways to stop the bad guys and keep yourself out of trouble. If someone's cheating, then film it secretly and anonymously drop it off on the teacher's desk. If someone's being beaten in an alleyway, play a recording of a police siren and chase them away. If you want things to change, sometimes you have to accept that you won't be thanked, that no one will know. That it's fine to not be given the credit, as long as you're doing the best you can."

"I... see." And he did. He saw why everything he'd done had ended in failure, he saw that he'd been foolish when he didn't need to be.

_So this is the wisdom of an angel._ He nodded to himself, almost as if in affirmation of his own thoughts. She hadn't straight out said 'I'm not an angel', after all, just deflected the question. Not that he would have believed her if she had.

"It's pretty late, shouldn't you be at home with your family?"

"I don't have a family."

* * *

Sakura froze.

Damn it, wouldn't the similarities stop already? It seemed as if the only true difference between this guy and her former teammate was that one was a powerful shinobi, and could back himself up when the going got tough, while the other was a civilian, and just... couldn't. Not for the first time, Sakura cursed the bleeding heart that the Leaf had afflicted her with. If she had just been born in Mist!

(If she had been born in Mist, she would be dead.

... And besides, she wouldn't have traded her past friendships for anything.)

Anyway, she couldn't help but want to make this guy's life a bit less of a black hole.

"Look," she sighed. "If you're ever near Kyoto Station and need a place to hide out, look for the big snail beside JR Kyoto Isetan's front entrance. If you walk straight into the statue, you'll find yourself in a small room, where you can stay for a bit. If you find yourself needing to stay longer than a few minutes, run your hand against the back wall until you find a section that feels like water. Stick your hand in and push, and you'll find yourself in a larger room with a connecting bathroom. Just don't let my clients know you're there when they come in, and only write on the paper when you're in an urgent situation, or severely injured."

The guy nodded vigorously, and then winced.

"You're hurt. Why am I not surprised?"

He coughed in embarrassment as she approached him. "It's really not that big of a deal, just some glass - "

"Shut up stupid," she said, sliding out a thin knife. She used chakra to locate all the foreign bodies embedded in the guy's skin and set to work picking out all the shards. "What's your name, by the way?"

"Mikami Teru."

* * *

**Fuyuno Sakura** - age 13, 3rd year junior high

**Mikami Teru** - age 17, 3rd year high school

* * *

The poison Sakura used was first created by Shizune. It makes the victim appear to have died from acute alcohol poisoning, but at the same time fires all the sensory receptors in a way that makes the victim feel a burning pain on every inch of their skin.

* * *

**AN**

More Mikami Teru because he's a hottie. ;3

He's been getting taller and more muscular by the way, that's why he was cowering in front of Sugimoto but confident in front of Onishi. Well, that, and Sugimoto was super strong.

And before you ask, no, not all of Sakura's little stations have a bathroom and stuff. Just a few of them.

Candy Dream: I missed you~ hahaha

VampireHuntress72095: What if I, say, kill L? DUN DUN DUN. But I won't, obviously. Maybe.

Badge Nightmare: Yay, thank you. I hope so too lol


	24. Author's Note

Alright readers, here's the thing. I'm a bit stuck as to whether or not I should write the chapter in which Mikami finds out that his Angel was the Shi no Kage. He'll find out, definitely, but I'm not sure if I should write out the chapter when it happens, or just have it taken for granted that he will. On the one hand, I have it vaguely planned out, but on the other, the thing absolutely refuses to be written. So.

(Plus I don't really want to write a chapter about the Whammy boys coming over for the summer. D:

I think I'll just fast forward to Sakura's middle school graduation.)

Anyway, for Mikami, I really need you guys to review this chapter saying 'yay' (I write it out) or 'nay' (I skip it).

Thanks! :)

P.S.: If you realllly want me to write out a Whammy boys summer scene, please give me some ideas of what they could do, or what could happen.


	25. Age 13 - Kittens Are Killed By Curiosity

**July 15, 2003**

**3 years, 4 months, 8 days prior to Incident**

* * *

Sakura could sense two sources of chakra in her apartment, one more than there should be. The weaker of the two was clearly Miku; the other was more foreign, though not unfamiliar. Slightly alarmed, Sakura juggled the groceries around as she reached for her keys.

She needn't have bothered: the door opened by itself.

"Hi Pinky," she heard, as someone reached over and grabbed most of her packages.

_Oh._

Sakura peered over a paper bag and stared up at Mello, whose arms were now laden with vegetables and other edibles.

"Hi." She slid past him and pushed the door shut with her foot. "Where are the other two?"

The pair made their way to the kitchen. "I changed my flight last minute so I didn't have to be trapped in a metal box 12000 meters in the air with a psychopath."

Mello deposited her purchases on the countertop and leaned against it with his arms crossed, quietly watching her put away the groceries.

"Fair enough. Is Near-san coming?"

He twitched. "No fucking way."

"Hmm." She tiptoed on a chair and slid a box of strawberry jam on top of the fridge. "Why are you so hostile to him?"

"'Cause no matter how hard I try, I'm always second to that big headed twit. _I hate it_."

"Second place...? What for?"

"Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you. At our school, we take a series of tests every month, to gauge our intelligence and abilities. The student who is most consistently first place has the greatest chance of being chosen for the honour of a certain position, to be able to don a name that is exalted in our school on a certain date that is considered as, I guess, graduation, for the entire school."

"I see." Sakura stored away the last apple and stood up, grabbing the carton of chocolate milk. She poured a cup for both of them and made her way to the living room. "So if Near-san is first place, and you're second, then what rank are Matt and Beatus?"

Mello sprawled himself across the sofa, only bothering to shift to the side when Sakura nudged his leg. "Matt is third. Backup is unranked."

"Backup?"

"That's what the school calls him. If the top two students are incapable of maintaining the position, then that position will be given to him, the backup."

Privately, Sakura thought that was an awful thing to call someone, no matter how creepy they were.

"So why not third place?"

Mello sighed. "You ask too many questions."

She kicked his dangling foot. "You can't just stop there!"

"Yes I can. Anyway, I've already said too much."

_Again with the secrecy._

"Answer all of my remaining questions, and I'll promise to do a favour for you."

"What kind of favour would I need from _you_?"

"I dunno. Anything."

"Anything?"

"Anything. You can give me one order that I will absolutely obey, if it's humanly possible and won't kill me or hurt my siblings."

The blond smirked at her. "Deal."

"So why won't it be Matt?"

"Because Backup is smarter than Matt. Hell, don't tell anyone, but he might even be smarter than me."

"Then why is he not in the top three?"

"Because every time he takes an evaluation, he gets an impossibly low mark."

"But I thought you said - "

"When I said impossible, I _meant _it. If the lowest possible mark is zero, he'll get a negative fifty. If the lowest possible mark is negative fifty, he'll get negative two hundred. No one knows how he does it, since you can't even get those scores by actively trying."

"Then how do you know he's smarter than Matt?"

"Back before Matt or Near or I entered the school, the only notable students were two children with the initials A and B. They were geniuses among geniuses, always scoring astronomically high on the tests, but A, unable to handle the pressure, ended up committing suicide. Around the day of A's death, B also began to act strangely, and as he became more and more resentful of the 'prize' of graduation, his exam results began to slip lower and lower."

"And I'm guessing B is Beatus?"

"You got it. Any other student as intractable as Backup would be expelled, but the school is all too aware of how brilliant he is capable of being. No matter what he does, they refuse to let him go. Despite how psychopathic he is, even _I_ have to respect someone like that... And if you tell anyone I said such a thing, I'll kill you."

"I wouldn't dare," Sakura deadpanned.

This... gave her a whole new perspective of Beatus.

"Any more questions?"

"Huh? No."

"Then I'll be collecting my payment at a later date," Mello told her, his lips spread into a satisfied grin.

* * *

**Fuyuno Sakura** - age 13, 3rd year junior high

**Mello** - age 13, education unknown

* * *

**AN**

For Americans: 12000 meters is roughly 40000 feet.

Mello's voice in the dub was awful. Awful awful awful. And they tried to make him sound Russian, forgetting that he was raised in a _British orphanage_. Pff. I cringed and watched the subs instead. I usually hate dubs, and DN was not an exception.

Thanks for all your suggestions! (Most of which were along the lines of beach or festival, haha.) An overwhelming number of you said yay, which I didn't expect, so Mikami comes along later. Maybe September?

There were 116 visitors for last chapter, but only 13 of you actually said anything. The readers who stayed quiet: I HAVE MY EYE ON ALL YOU DALEKS *squinty look*

On the other hand, FnS has passed 9000 views! *throws confetti*

*drowns in confetti*

*dies x_x*


	26. Age 13 - Gion Festival

**July 16, 2003**

**3 years, 4 months, 7 days prior to Incident**

* * *

**Yesterday Evening.**

"Chibi-chan! I missed you sooo much!" Beatus grabbed her around the waist and twirled her around. He then crushed her to his chest in a suffocating embrace.

Sakura gingerly patted his back. "Umm... Me too?"

He squeezed her tighter.

Matt spoke up. "Hey, she's gonna asphyxiate to death if you keep doing that."

Beatus made a happy noise and refused to let her go until she kicked his knee. He gasped dramatically.

"Chibi-chan, how could you kick me?"

"Easily."

"You have to make it up to me."

"No I don't."

"If we get to go to a festival, I'll forgive you."

"I don't need to be forgiven, though."

"I hear there's one in Kyoto around this time. The Gyhun Festival, or something."

"Gion. It's too far."

"You have to wear a yukata, okay?"

"I don't even own a yukata."

"We can rent one."

"Too expensive."

"I'll pay."

"Still not going."

A pause.

"Chibi-otouto!"

There was a brief moment of silence before Sakura heard the pattering of rushing feet in the hallway. An excited Kaito burst into the living room.

"Beetas-niisan!"

"Chibi-otouto, do you want to go to a festival? There'll yummy foods and lots of fun games."

"Yeah! I want! I want! Let's go!"

"But your sister doesn't want to, so we can't. Too bad."

Kaito turned to her, his eyes wide and pleading.

"'Nee-chan, can't we go? Pleeease?"

"No, we can't."

"But why?"

"It's a waste of time, and it's too far."

"But I've never been to a festival before!"

"You can go some other time, when there's one in Tokyo."

"But I want to go _now_!"

"Don't be bratty, Kaito."

Sakura watched in horror as tears gathered in a crestfallen Kaito's eyes. "'Nee-chan is the worst!"

Her mouth moved without permission.

"Fine," she heard herself say. "Let's go."

Her little brother sniffled. "Hunh?"

"We'll go to the festival tomorrow."

"R-really?"

"Yes."

"Yay!" He hugged her and eagerly ran off to his room.

Sakura glared Mello, who was sniggering on the couch, and kicked Beatus in the shin. Hard.

* * *

"You should wear that one." Mello pointed at a yukata on display. It was black and patterned with tiny silver and white crosses all throughout.

"Rejected."

"What! Why?"

"Too hot."

"Then, what about this one, Sakura-chan?"

Matt held up a bright pink yukata decorated with paler pink rabbits.

"Rejected."

"Aww, why?"

"Too pink."

"But your hair is pink!"

"Which is why I'll be too pink if I wear that."

Sakura fingered the red fabric of a yukata hanging on a rack. It looked eerily similar to the kimono she had used to wear _back_ _then_, from the large white cherry blossoms to the orange obi. Maybe she should just -

"Chibi-chan."

Beatus had disappeared at the onset of this little excursion, and was now making his way back to the group with a shop attendant in tow. There was a large box of something being carefully held in the woman's arms.

"Oh, Beatus. Where did you go?"

He ignored her and motioned the shop attendant forward. "This is her. Help her get changed."

The woman bowed and Sakura found herself being firmly lead to the changing rooms.

"Eh?"

* * *

Sakura stared at herself in the mirror. The yukata Beatus had brought over was a pale jade, the colour of her eyes, that darkened to a deeper green towards the ends of her sleeves and near her obi. Spiraling white vines tipped with little leaves of the same colour swirled down the length of the kimono. The tendrils that twined down her arms were decorated with tiny black butterflies that looked almost like four petaled flowers. Large, blushing butterflies visited the vines throughout her torso and legs, only interrupted by an pink obi a shade darker than their fragile wings.

"Beatus."

"Yes?"

"This is all _silk_."

"So?"

"It's too expensive. I can't afford to rent it for an hour, let alone a day. What if I get a stain on it? Then I'd have to buy the whole thing, and I don't have enough money for that."

"That won't be a problem. You can stain it as much as you want, since it's already paid for."

Sakura charged out of the small room. "It's what?"

"I bought it already," Beatus said. His eyes gleamed with satisfaction as he drank in the sight of her.

"What would you have done if it didn't fit me?"

"Of course it would fit you. I know all of your body's measurements, after all."

"What?!"

"Your height is 154.5 centimeters and you weigh 35.6 kilograms. Your bust, waist, and hips are 65/53/66 respectively. Your bra size is AA - " Sakura slapped her hand over his mouth. "Mfhm."

"How do you know all that?" she hissed.

Beatus licked her palm and she immediately lifted it and motioned to wipe it on her clothes, and then floundered when she realised what she was wearing. She wiped it on a still gaping Matt's sleeve instead.

"From last night."

"I didn't tell you - you didn't measure - no. Wait. You can't possibly have gotten that from hugging me, right?"

He shrugged. "It wasn't exactly hard. You should eat more."

Sakura threw up her hands and retreated into the dressing room, yelling, "Go get Mello and Kaito-kun, we're leaving."

_Damned geniuses._

* * *

When Sakura finally exited the store, hair done up and obi neatly in place, all four of the boys were lounging on a nearby bench.

"Took you long enough," Mello grouched. "What were you... even... doing. Oh."

He blinked at her for a moment and she grinned cheekily. "I know I'm gorgeous, but no need to stare."

Mello turned red. "That's not it, you idiot," he grumbled, tossing an object at her. Sakura easily snatched it out of midair. When she opened her hand, there was a delicate black butterfly seemingly perched on her palm. "I was just thinking that the thing matched your clothes."

It was true. The clip harmonized with the little black insects on her sleeves and her right shoulder rather well, almost to the point where she wondered if he'd seen her yukata beforehand.

"Thank you," Sakura told him, a sincere smile blooming on her face.

* * *

Matt and Kaito had gone off to play various games together, Mello was who-knew-where, and Beatus _would not stop touching her_.

She swatted his hand away from her heko obi for what seemed like the twentieth time this evening. "Stop it."

"But I bought it for you."

"And I'm wearing it. So stop tugging on the bow or it'll undo."

"I'm just holding onto you so you won't get lost."

"I wouldn't get lost," Sakura scoffed.

* * *

**Thirteen minutes later.**

She was lost.

How could she be lost?

_This is stupid_, she thought, finishing off her stick of dango. She sighed and started making her way to the tantalizing smell of chicken.

"... Ryoga, don't be such a miser! We're classmates aren't we? Another few lost sticks wouldn't hurt you."

"No, I can't. My dad got really mad last time!"

"Take one for the team!"

"No, but I really can't, I - "

A guy with bleached hair grabbed 'Ryuga's collar and pulled the teen towards him, forcing Ryuga to lean over the bubbling pot of sauce.

"Give me a fucking yakitori."

Sakura calmly reached up and separated the bully's hand from Ryoga's collar. "Two sticks of negima yakitori, please."

"Eh? A-ah, shio or tare?"

"Tare."

The nervous looking Ryuga bustled off to make her order.

"You shouldn't have butted in, kid," bleached-hair said, looking slightly irritated.

"It's an ittle bittle chuugakusei!"

"Kato wouldn't hit a little girl, right?" one of the boys whispered.

"Of course I won't," 'Kato' snapped.

A guy wearing a headband spoke up. "Hey, I have a little brother your age who's looking for a girlfriend. You should come and meet him!"

"No thanks."

"Don't be shy!" He grabbed her arm. "He's not that far from here!"

The other boys shook their heads in a mixture of amusement and annoyance.

"Daichi and his little bro complex," Kato snorted.

Sakura pulled at her arm. "Let go of me."

"You'll like him, I swear!"

Sakura wondered if she should just knock him out. It would be the work of a second to just make him stumble back and hit his head on that wooden beam behind him. A spike of chakra would take care of the rest.

* * *

Mikami Teru watched the boys harassing the worker at the yakitori stall, recognizing them as second years from a nearby high school. If they got violent, he would have to intervene.

A pink haired girl wearing a green yukata entered the edge of his vision. When she approached the group, Teru cursed and started towards them as well. Trying to stop the incident was good and all, but she was just a little girl, and those guys weren't exactly paradigms of moral virtue.

"No thanks," he heard the pink haired girl say.

Teru froze in shock.

_That voice!_

He'd known that his tenshi-sama was in the form of a young girl, but it was quite another thing to actually be able to see her uncovered face. Teru gave the girl a second appraisal. He could tell that in just a few years, she would be drawing a great amount of impure attention to herself.

"Let go!"

Such as right now.

Teru quickly cut through the remaining distance and grabbed the heathen's wrist. "She said to let go."

"Who're you?!" Seeing that the infidel refused to move, Teru crushed the limb held in his hand. "ARGH -"

"I'm her guardian." He only slackened his grip after tenshi-sama's arm was released. "If you don't want me to call the authorities, you should leave. Now."

The entire group scuttled off, but Teru paid them no mind. His tenshi-sama was staring up at him with wide eyes.

"Tenshi-sama." He would take this chance to ask her questions that had been laying heavily on his mind for the last couple months.

Her eyes frantically avoided his. "Sorry, I think you have the wrong person."

"I recognized your voice."

"No," she stressed. "You didn't. We've never met before. Ever."

Teru blinked in realization. Of course, he must be compromising her disguise. How very careless of him.

"No, we haven't," he agreed. She sagged in relief. "I must have been mistaken. I just wanted to ask… do you have any relations with shadows?"

She clearly understood what he was hinting at, because she tensed up again. "Depends on why you're asking."

Teru took that as a cautious 'yes'.

"I see. I have to say, I'm very… surprised."

Tenshi-sama turned to leave, but he gently caught her wrist.

"Wait, I still have more questions."

Another hand landed on his tenshi-sama's head. "Chibi-chan. Why is that _filth_ touching you?"

"_I'm_ filth?" Teru spat, glaring down at the younger boy. How dare he touch his tenshi-sama so familiarly?

The heretic glared back. "Yes. You. Chibi-chan, do you know this trash?"

"Don't be rude, Beatus."

"So you do know him."

"No, actually, I just met him. But you're still being rude."

"Indeed. I'm surprised you associate with someone so ill-mannered."

The two males kept glaring at each other, their gazes burning with animosity.

Another boy, brown haired and perhaps thirteen years old, blithely blundered between himself and the heretic, oblivious of the tense air.

"Ah, Sakura-chan, there you are. You'll miss the fireworks, you know? Mello and Kaito found a good spot, come on."

Or perhaps not so oblivious, Teru amended, seeing the boy's eyes flitting cautiously between himself and the heathen.

"Um, miss, your negima yakitori."

Tenshi-sama barely managed to reach up and grab the two sticks before she was whisked away.

"But you still... haven't... paid..." The worker sighed despondently.

"I'll pay," Teru told him, still staring after her departing back.

* * *

Sakura stared up at the bursts of colour unfurling in the blackness of the night sky. Beatus's gaze rested heavily upon her shoulders.

"Chibi-chan."

"What?"

"We have to get married."

Three "What?!"s echoed through the little hill. Kaito perked up eagerly.

"I hate it when other guys touch you."

Seeing Mello open his mouth, Sakura clamped her hands over Kaito's ears.

"What the fuck, you psycho?!"

"Uh, Beatus," Matt added. "They're probably going to touch her even if you... marry her."

"_They won't_. I'll make sure of it."

"You must be more insane than I thought, you - "

"We aren't getting married."

"..."

Beatus stared at her for a moment, the veins in his neck suddenly prominent against his pale skin.

He then took a deep breath and relaxed.

"Fine."

"Fine?"

"Yes. Fine."

"What, really?"

"Yes."

To Sakura's confusion, Beatus just leaned back and continued to watch the rest of the fireworks in silence.

* * *

**Fuyuno Sakura** - age 13, 3rd year junior high

**BB** - age 16, education unknown

**Mello** - age 13, education unknown

**Matt** - age 13, education unknown

**Mikami Teru** - age 18, 3rd year high school

**Fuyuno Kaito** - age 10, 4th grade elementary

* * *

**AN**

A heko obi is a soft cloth obi. Tare is sauce, and shio is salt. Apparently they're supposed to ask you which you want. Chuugaksei means middle schooler.

Mikami wasn't supposed to be in this chapter, but then I saw that the only plausible festival for Sakura to go to was in Kyoto. In my mind, Kyoto = Mikami Teru. So he ended up weaseling his way in.

Sorry for the wait! I know some of you are chomping at the bit for the action to start (so am I), so after Mikami's chapter, it'll be junior high graduation, the DRRR cameo, and then L.

Candy Dream: He picked the lock. 5000% true.

Sasu-cakes: ASDFHKKS ME TOO DUDE. Sakura should just hurry up and age already. Urg. Stupid author and her perfectionistic tendencies. *hits self*

2lazy2login: Thank you!

Choco-lily: Yes, chocolate is awesome, haha. Thanks for the review~

schoolgirl: Nope, no double personality. I think the Shi no Kage already does have a website, Sakura just never bothered to check. And, uh... I forgot the rest of your questions. Sorry? XD


	27. Age 13 - Mikami's Epiphany

**September 12, 2003**

**3 years, 2 months, 11 day prior to Incident**

* * *

His tenshi-sama was the Shi no Kage.

That... was an irrefutable fact.

He'd found proof of this the fifth time he'd visited the haven she'd suggested. The portal of entrance was opaque on the outer side but clear inside the hidden room, so he'd been able to see a variety of uneasy characters entering the statue and writing on the opened scroll. These, Teru had accurately guessed, were the clients tenshi-sama had spoken of.

On June 21st, a haggard looking woman had stumbled in and begun writing furiously. Finally unable to withstand his curiosity, Teru had peered through the window to see what she was writing.

'_Please kill Hoshita Karuto_.'

The name was familiar, but at the time, he'd only been mildly puzzled. It wasn't until the next morning, when a news reporter had announced minor politician Hoshita Karuto as another victim of the Shi no Kage that Teru had started getting suspicious.

He'd rebelled against the idea at first, of course, because how could his angel possibly be that wretched mass murderer? But name after name, victim after victim, client after client had come and gone, and he could no longer dispute the theory that had so firmly embedded into his mind.

Perhaps his tenshi-sama wasn't an angel after all? Perhaps she was just another horrible sinner, and he'd misjudged the situation?

He had spent a fortnight agonizing over this, so when he'd heard his tenshi-sama at the Gion Matsuri, Teru had been eager for the chance to finally get some sort of resolution. If this was untrue, if she had nothing to hide, the answer would be a conclusive 'no'.

He hoped it was a no, otherwise...

His angel - Sakura, the boy had called her - had clearly been displaying the moral rightness he'd seen from her before, though on a lesser scale. So he'd asked, thinking he'd be proven wrong.

... In her evasion, however, he saw confirmation instead.

His knowledge of tenshi-sama wasn't matching up. The ends weren't meeting. Was there something he was overlooking? A missing side to the triangle?

The next time a client came in, Teru paid close attention to what they wrote on the scroll. Instead of noting the names of the targets she accepted, he took care to read out the reasons.

* * *

_He raped my daughter_.

Accepted.

* * *

_She cheated on me._

Rejected.

* * *

_My grandmother is deathly ill because her boss wouldn't let her get treatment and refused to pay his share of her health insurance_.

Accepted.

* * *

_He's a liability to our family name._

Rejected.

* * *

_He's embezzling funds from our company, and blackmailing the police into keeping quiet._

Accepted.

* * *

_He keeps beating our children and I'm afraid he'll try to rape our daughter soon._

Accepted.

* * *

And so, Mikami Teru finally understood.

Normal humans wouldn't realize why these men needed to die because they were uninformed. Ignorant. They only saw the smiling masks of amiability, and not the bottomless pits of blackness in these men's hearts. His tenshi-sama was weeding the world of these two faced liars, and the masses didn't even know.

Sakura-sama was doing them a favour, and they repaid her by calling her a serial killer and a psychopathic murderer.

This enraged him, but he wouldn't speak out. He would follow Tenshi-sama's advice and lie in wait, biding his time until an opportune moment to clear her name revealed itself.

Mikami Teru would let the world know that the Shi no Kage was an angel.

* * *

**Fuyuno Sakura** - age 13, 3rd year junior high

**Mikami Teru** - age 18, 3rd year high school

* * *

**AN**

I don't know how well I did, but that was easier than I thought. Huh.

Now I can spam you guys with the chapters I wrote up while procrastinating the summer scene! :D

And as for Beyond, you'll see.

Heh.

Candy Dream: Miku was napping lol. And she wouldn't have called either way, cause she recognizes Mello.


	28. Age 13 - Junior High Graduation

**March 10, 2004**

**2 years, 8 months, 13 days prior to Incident**

* * *

"Light-senpai!"

"Yagami-senpai, can I have one of your cufflinks?"

"Light-senpai, could I please have your second button?"

"Sorry, that's for someone else," Light told the girl sheepishly. She sagged in disappointment. "I can give you another one though?"

Sakura watched the second year run off, button in hand. "That's the fourteenth one. You've run out of baubles, Light. You should just give the button to one of them, so they stop asking."

"But I don't want to give them false hope."

She shrugged, and then was stopped by a fellow third year. "Ah, Kyo-san."

"Sakura-san, I just wanted to give you this." He grasped one of her hands in his and tore off his second button - the last one - with the other, dropping in into her cupped palm.

"Oh… I'm really sorry, but I can't return your feelings," she told him, trying to give it back. He shrugged and curled her fingers around the trinket.

"I already knew that, I just wanted you to know. Keep it." Kyo gave Light a sidelong glance before striding off, his buttonless blazer fluttering in the light breeze.

"How many is that now?"

Sakura slid the newly acquired button into her bag. "Eight."

"Not bad, Miss Popular."

"Speak for yourself, Mister Class Rep. If we were in a competition, I'd lose."

"Here, you can have this as a consolation prize." Light dropped his second button into her bag.

"I don't want it. Your fangirls are gonna get mad again."

"If they do, you can defend yourself with your super punch."

"I don't know if I can hit a girl."

"That's your problem then." At Sakura's unimpressed look, he chuckled and ruffled her hair. "Just kidding. I'll protect you."

"But you can't hit a girl either."

Light sighed.

* * *

There was a large package sitting in front of her door, with **Fuyuno Sakura** written on it in a large, messy sprawl. There was no sticker proclaiming the sender or the return address.

Curious, she picked it up and shook it a little. It was surprisingly heavy, and made a rattling noise.

Sakura brought it in and set it on the floor, carefully removing the box tape with a knife.

What could this be?

On the very top, there was a sheet of white paper with a single sentence in a utilitarian Times New Roman.

"An early birthday gift. Congratulations on your graduation, Fuyuno-san," it read. She nearly missed the "N" further down the page, written in a strange, looping font.

_Fuyuno-san?_ Off the top of her head, she could only think of a few people who called her that, and only one person whose name began with an N.

But why would Near-san send her anything? He didn't seem the type to randomly give out gifts, so what was this about?

When she lifted the note, Sakura realised why the box had been so heavy. It was a Go board with legs, perhaps 20 centimeters thick. Two large, glossy jars sat on top of the board, weighed down with glass Go pieces. For a board game, the set looked rather beautiful.

Sakura huffed in amusement. Well now she would have to learn how to play Go, wouldn't she?

* * *

**Fuyuno Sakura** - age 13, 3rd year junior high

**Yagami Light** - age 15, 3rd year junior high

**Near** - age 12, education unknown

* * *

**AN**

Near doesn't do _anything_ without a reason.

I mentally based Kyo a little off of Sohma Kyo from Fruit Basket.

Kishimoto-sensei told us that Sakura was supposed to be cute/pretty, so I'm having fun with that. Unfortunately, her popularity isn't entirely on her own merits. A small part of her charm comes from the fact that she isn't presently attracted to Light, despite being around him often.

Too bad for them, Sakura is incapable of being attracted to a guy right now. She's mentally too old to be attracted to someone around her age, but too aware of her actual age to be attracted to someone much older.

Three updates in one day! :O


	29. Age 13 - Entrance Exam Results

**March 15, 2004**

**2 years, 8 months, 8 days prior to Incident**

* * *

"You... you got a better score than me."

"It appears so," Light replied, simultaneously amused and pleased.

"You got a better score. Than _me_."

The look he gave her was all kinds of smug.

"I refuse to believe this. I refuse!"

"Careful Sakura, I might start feeling insulted." Despite his words, the brunet's lips were curled into a smile.

"This must be because you go to cram school." She nodded to herself, before turning and pointing at him. "I can't believe I'm saying this... Light! I'm going to attend your cram school! Be prepared to fall back to number two!"

"Whatever you say, Sakura."

She kicked his foot.

* * *

**Fuyuno Sakura** - age 13, 3rd year junior high

**Yagami Light** - age 15, 3rd year junior high

* * *

**AN**

Filler chapter!

Ah, too bad Sakura. This is gonna be a bit of a regular occurrence.

This is to show you why Sakura is going to cram school with Light at a later chapter, as well as to set a precedent.

About the stalker: Hmm. I don't know who to use, since I don't want to use one of the main boys. (B doesn't need to stalk Sakura, and L doesn't know he should.) But this does sound interesting. I could make it a character from another anime... but do you think that would make this a triple crossover? (I'm thinking maybe Izaya. You'll see him next chapter, which is an omake. Or someone from KHR? Perhaps an alternative version of a Naruto character.)

Choco-lily: I personally like white. I adore sweet things.


	30. Omake: Age 14 - Idling in Ikebukuro

**May 3, 2004**

**2 years, 6 months, 20 days prior to Incident**

* * *

Sakura was plagued by a strange craving. Was there such thing as watermelon sushi?

Because she hungered for it. Badly.

Maybe Kanra-san would know. That girl was a veritable fountain of information.

* * *

_Hananana has entered the chat._

_**Hananana**: Kanra-san, are you there?_

_**Kanra**: Hai hai~ Kanra-chan here!_

_**Kanra**: Hana-chan, long time no talk (*^_^*)_

_**Hananana**: But it's only been a week?_

_**Kanra**: I missed you though~ wwww_

_**Hananana**: (:_

_**Hananana**: I just wanted to ask, do you know anywhere that sells watermelon sushi?_

_**Kanra**: Ehhh? ( O_o )_

_**Kanra**: Watermelon sushi? ( ?_? )_

_**Hananana**: Yeah, I know it's strange_

_**Hananana**: But I'm suuuper craving it!_

_**Kanra**: Weeelll... Russia Sushi might_

_**Kanra**: They have a loooot of weird sushis there_

_**Kanra**: And you can ask Dennis-san for custom made! :3_

_**Hananana**: Russia Sushi?_

_**Hananana**: Where's that?_

_**Kanra**: It's in Ikebukuro ;P_

_**Hananana**: Ah, that's not that far, that's good._

_**Kanra**: I'll be in Ikebukuro today~! Maybe we can meet up? :D_

_**Hananana**: Sure, if you want_

_**Hananana**: I'll be there at around 2_

_**Hananana**: The only person buying watermelon sushi wwwwww_

_**Kanra**: Hai hai!_

_**Kanra**: I will be on the look out for hana-chan~_

_**Hananana**: I'll look for you too, then_

_**Hananana**: What's your hair colour?_

_**Kanra**: Kanra-chan's hair is black!_

_**Hananana**: Too common! ( x_x )_

_**Hananana**: You'll have to find me I guess_

_**Kanra**: No problem~!_

_**Hananana**: See you later, Kanra-san_

_**Kanra**: Bye-byesies~_

_**Kanra**: Ah, and look out for the flying vending machines!_

_**Hananana**: What?_

_**Hananana**: Flying vending machines?_

_Kanra has left the chat._

_**Hananana**: Kanra-san?_

_**Hananana**: Kanra-san!_

_**Hananana**: Ah, sheesh._

_Hananana has left the chat._

* * *

_Russia Sushi... Russia Sushi... Ah!_

"Russia Sushi! Delicious! Cheap! Have sushi now!"

Sakura walked up to the large man with bad Japanese.

"Do you happen to have watermelon sushi?"

"Watermelon? Yes! All sushi at Russia Sushi! Sushi is good!"

"Oh, good. Thank you." Sakura made her way into the store and placed herself in one of the stools.

Maybe Kanra-san was already here?

She looked around, but surprisingly the only black haired people she could see was a group in one of the separate rooms and a guy seated a few stools away from her, eating otoro. He wore a long red shirt under an unbuttoned black school jacket, and, though he had a sharp, charming face, Sakura was even more charmed by the glistening fatty tuna held between his chopsticks.

"What can I get you?"

"Ah, are you Dennis-san? Can I please have one of your watermelon sushis and four otoro sashimi?"

"One dynamic watermelon roll and four otoro sashimi coming right up!"

From the corner of her eye, Sakura could see otoro-boy staring at her from the corner of his eyes.

Could _he_ be Kanra-san?

No. No way, Kanra was a girl.

But then again, Kanra-san had never actually mentioned 'her' gender... and it wasn't Sakura's business to judge whether or not someone wanted to act like a girl online.

If he was Kanra, why wasn't he approaching her? Maybe he was embarrassed?

Their eyes met.

No, not embarrassed in the least. He looked too focused, too... smug.

(It was as if she was a new species of insect under his magnifying glass, as if a single twist of his pale wrist would bring her to a burning demise.)

Well, one way to find out.

She slid off of her stool and plopped herself on the one beside otoro-boy.

"Are you Kanra-san?"

He blinked at her.

"Aw, I was already found out. That's no fun, Hana-chan!"

"So I was right. I'm Sakura. What's your name?"

"Haaah, that's so boring. I don't want to tell you."

"Your choice," she shrugged. Her order was placed in front of her. "Ah, thank you."

She didn't flinch at his unblinking stare, too used to being stared at by psychopaths. Sakura stuck a single piece of the watermelon roll in her mouth and sat up in surprise. "Oh, wow, this is actually good."

"Really?" Kanra asked with mock-eagerness, his chin in his palm.

"Yeah. Do you want some, Kanra-san?"

"Izaya."

"What?"

"My name."

"... Nice to meet you. Izaya-san."

* * *

An hour later, Sakura found herself exiting Sunshine 60 with a watermelon crêpe in one hand and Izaya's orange peel ice cream in the other.

"Your powers of manipulation are dangerous," she told Izaya, who was happily smirking as he strolled along in front of her.

"Ah, flattery will get you everywhere, Kurarin!"

Sakura rolled her eyes at him. "You're so full of it - "

She was interrupted by a voice filled with such enmity that anyone with a weaker constitution would break out in gooseflesh.

"_**Izaya**_."

Izaya grinned with malicious glee.

"Oh no, the mindless beast has found me~!"

"_Shut up_!" someone roared; Sakura couldn't see their face due to the dumpster flying in her direction.

Izaya snatched up his ice cream and deftly removed himself from his position in front of her, leaving her to receive the full brunt of the force. Her free hand automatically shot out to catch the flying object, but it was the work of less than a millisecond for her to realise that no normal person would be able to hold a 350 kilogram dumpster with both hands, let alone one, no matter how strained it was. She quickly shifted the trajectory of her strength so that she could use the momentum of the waste container as a springboard to vault out of the way, instead.

As she straightened from her crouched landing, crêpe intact, Sakura surveyed the small audience.

_Did anyone notice?_

From what she could tell, none of the few pedestrians had seen her faux pas…

But Izaya's cheshire grin said otherwise.

"Whatever happened to chivalry?" she asked, hoping beyond hope that the frighteningly perceptive teen hadn't caught her mistake.

"Hahahaha! You're so much more interesting than I gave you credit for, Kurarin!"

_Shit_. He totally had.

Izaya stalked over to her with gleaming eyes, forcing her to retreat until her back hit the Sunshine 60 building.

"You know... there's a possibility you might be my type. Maybe."

He confined her against the wall with his arms and leaned towards her, close - too close - enough that she could clearly admire the cutting intensity in his eyes, hidden by an uneven mantle of lighthearted amusement, but definitely there, always there.

Everything about this boy was razor-sharp, like the slick edge of a knife, prepared to strike at any perceived weakness in both ally and enemy. The only relationships he would be capable of fostering were deceitful at best, and loathsome at worst. This kind of person, this kind of man, wouldn't have friends or lovers. He wouldn't know how, wouldn't understand the need for such intimacy.

Sakura thought he would make an excellent shinobi.

Somehow, this reminder of home made him ever so slightly more hateful, and even more slightly attractive.

"I'll think about it," she told him, jerking the knee caught between his legs up, but there was no need; her crêpe in hand, the grinning teen was already slipping out of the way of a vending machine that was barely a foot from her face.

_Smart guy._

He had made it so that it would be impossible for her to dodge the large appliance. It was too close, and coming in too fast. In this scenario, the only plausible way to stop herself from being crushed to death would be to stop the oncoming device with a clear display of raw strength (or reveal even more impossible abilities, but that was unacceptable).

Before red filled up her entire sight, Sakura caught a glimpse of Izaya's grinning face.

_Also, total asshole. Sheesh._

She braced herself and held out both hands close to her body's center, and as the vending machine collided against her, it dented and created two small, hands shaped indents. The rest of the metal creased and crinkled around that point of impact, creating an uneven cage around her body as it tried to crush her against the wall. Sakura cringed at the sound of screeching steel and shattering glass but was nonetheless appreciative of the distraction from the newfound pain in her body.

Her hands screamed at their wretched abuse, her very marrow rang with the harsh impact, and her back throbbed with sharp pain from its unhappy union with the wall behind her. She was no longer used to such force, having been raised in this place of complacency instead of in a world where life and death situations were the norm.

The machine's large size was something to be grateful for though, since it meant the audience couldn't see her and would come to their own conclusions.

"Waah, Shizu-chan, you utter monster. You killed an innocent little girl~!"

"Shit!" said a deep voice. The crunching of glass under heavy steps approached her.

Feeling someone trying to lift the machine off, Sakura forcibly pushed her hand through the metal backing and hooked her fingers into the steel frame, ignoring the blood now dripping from her appendages. Her hands could file complaints later.

"What the - "

There was a brief tug-of-war of enormous strength, until the other party momentarily backed off and tried another tactic. The left corner of the destroyed machine groaned as someone pried it to the side.

A confused male with blond hair peeked through the thin gap.

"..."

"..."

"Wha - "

"Shh," she told him, holding a finger to her lips.

"But - "

"Shh."

"How - "

"Shhhh."

"..."

"..."

Sakura and the profoundly bewildered blond remained like that for a few minutes.

"Are the bystanders gone?"

"... I don't know."

"Can you check?"

He lifted his head and glared at something to his left. "The fuck are you staring at! You wanna die?!"

There were sounds of panic as people started running away. Despite herself, Sakura's lips twitched upwards in amusement.

The tall blond stuck his head back in. "Yeah, they're gone."

"Thank you."

Sakura slid her way along the wall and squeezed herself through the opening the guy had created. As she assessed her injuries with the excuse of patting herself down, she spotted Izaya striding towards her.

"Izaya-san, that was awful of you. I could have died."

"And you didn't! Isn't that great?"

"Don't think I'll forgive you that easily."

He handed her back her watermelon crêpe, which remained entirely unharmed.

"... Fine. I won't kill you."

As Izaya smirked at her, the blond guy scowled. "_What_?!"

"What?"

"That fucking Izaya nearly got you killed, and you don't even care?!"

"Technically, you also nearly got me killed, but I'm not attacking _you_ for it."

A muscle in his jaw twitched. Sakura wondered if it was out of aggression or anger.

Or guilt.

"And I wasn't in much danger in the first place."

"_Hah_?"

"I mean, sure, I've got a few new injuries..."

This guy was much stronger than she thought humanly possible without chakra.

Her back was now colourfully decorated with deep, blooming bruises that spanned along the length of her spine, her ribs ached dangerously, several of her nails were bloodied and torn, and she'd have to take care of the hairline fractures in both of her ulnas sometime in the very very near future.

(But him feeling guilt made her feel guilty, so she thought it would be better not to bring up those details.)

"... but nothing that'll send me to the hospital. Despite how I look, I'm rather sturdy."

"Ah~ this is the best kind of birthday present! Too bad that moronic Shizu-chan is here too, or else I would have had more fun with Kurarin."

"Shut up, you goddamn flea!"

As the two boys fought, Sakura started on the confection in her hand. She hummed in delight as the thin pancake practically melted on her tongue, exploding with the crispy sweetness of her favourite fruit.

_Delicious_.

After she polished off the wrapping paper and healed the most conspicuous of her wounds, Sakura could see a lamp post cutting through the sky a few streets away, so she set off to say goodbye to her new acquaintances.

Halfway into her journey, Sakura felt a sudden wave of drowsiness weigh heavily against her limbs with an artificial sort of exhaustion.

Genjutsu was her first thought (that disastrous first chunin exam flashed through her mind), but of course, that was impossible.

She sent her metabolism into overdrive and scrutinized her internal functions. Some sort of rapid hypnotic drug, probably a short-acting benzodiazepine, administered to her either in powder or liquid form, more than likely liquid. A small amount, but completely undiluted; this would pack a quicker punch, without losing the strength. It was a dangerous method, however, since if you had no idea what you were doing or made even the slightest error, you could overdose the recipient and potentially kill them. She knew from experience.

After a dizzying, nauseous moment (she wanted to collapse in the middle of the street and never wake up, surely that wouldn't be so bad, to just sleep and sleep forever and ever - _No, what was she saying?)_, Sakura managed to neutralize the threat.

When had anyone had the chance to drug her? There was Dennis-san, but she'd left Russia Sushi over an hour ago; it would have kicked in before then.

Though...

Izaya had been holding onto her crêpe for a while, hadn't he?

_But why?_

No, she didn't even need to waste any effort on that particular question.

He was probably trying to save her for later, when that blond guy was gone. Would he try to dissect her? Experiment on her? He didn't seem the mad scientist type, too much a grand chessmaster for that, but who knew?

_"I would have had more fun_," he'd said.

Should, could, would... why keep it a possibility when you could make it happen?

_Fun._

What if he'd overdosed her, or she had a violent allergic reaction?

How inconsiderate.

Sakura had thought it herself earlier, that he'd looked at her and seen another pawn to ruin. Though it really couldn't be helped - and often left her with an advantage - she really hated being underestimated.

She should have known better than to not actively distrust a guy like that, Sakura thought, as she trooped over to the sounds of crashing and panic.

Finally finding the brunet on top of a large sign, she violently threw the balled up wrapper at his head, making him nearly tip over from the impact.

"I'm going home now, Izaya-san," Sakura yelled. She ignored his fleetingly disappointed expression. "And keep your drugs to yourself, jerkface!"

Sakura ducked under a swinging street lamp and waved goodbye at Shizu-chan-san, not bothering to wait for Izaya's reaction.

* * *

**Fuyuno Sakura** - age 14, 1st year high school

**Orihara Izaya** - age 17, 3rd year high school

**Heiwajima Shizuo** - age 18, high school graduate

* * *

**AN**

"www" is the Japanese equivalent of "lol", since in Japan, 'to laugh' is 'warau'.

Don't think ever Izaya does something nice without a reason. Sakura is so careless, letting him hold her thing and then just eating it.

I keep getting the feeling that her prowess as a kunoichi is weakening as she grows older. Not because of her abilities as much as her change in attitude and increasing sense of complacency.

May 3 is Izaya's birthday, so I gave him a present. ;3

Not the best premise (and therefore not the best everything else). Urggg. Well that's what an omake is, I guess? Something silly and random. I got the second part pat down, anyway.


	31. Age 14 - Pants On Fire

**June 5, 2004**

**2 years, 5 months, 18 days prior to Incident**

* * *

Sakura silently slipped into the dark hall. All was quiet. Her target, it seemed, was sleeping soundly.

Good. It would make her job that much easier.

Sakura easily traced the only chakra signature in the apartment to one of the closed doors and slipped into the room. Standing over the bed, she slid out a knife, leaned in close -

a flurry of movement -

eyes snapped open -

_**BANG.**_

"Guh..."

Sakura stared at the dead body on the bed, and then at the slowly leaking hole in her abdomen. She glanced at the droplets of blood on the ground and behind her.

_... What?_

How had he known she was there in the first place?

And how had he known where she was standing?

The first question was easily answered. This had to be a setup. The man knew she was coming and had tried to prepare himself.

But more urgently, how had he known her location? She had a genjutsu up! He wasn't a shinobi. He was a perfectly normal human on all accounts, so there was no way he had seen her, or heard her, or smelled her. It couldn't have been a lucky shot, he'd looked too sure of himself.

She didn't understand how this was possible.

_Unless..._

Sakura grabbed her deceased target's head and tilted it to the left. Nothing. Then she tilted it to the right.

A tiny black ear bud.

She took in a sharp breath.

This was definitely a setup. Not only that, it was obvious that someone knew how to bypass genjutsu and was using that against her.

_Shit, shit, shit, shit!_

She was being filmed! Who was it? The camera, where was the camera?!

If she was being watched, she couldn't heal herself properly, either, since she wanted to limit knowledge of her abilities. And besides, what if she was forced to heal someone in public? (What if Miku or Kaito got into a fatal car accident, or something?) She didn't want Fuyuno Sakura to be traced to the Shi no Kage.

Sakura looked around frantically, and spotted the trails of blood on the beige carpet.

"Fuck!"

She had to get rid of the blood. Even the slightest trace of it would be dangerous to her. Stupid civilians and their stupidly advanced technology.

But she couldn't exactly erase it all out. Even bleach wouldn't be enough, it was too much of a risk.

Fire would work. A small, localized katon would take care of this. But she was being watched (where was that fucking camera?!) and it wouldn't be wise to show any more Jutsu than absolutely necessary.

This guy had to have a lighter, right? Hopefully he was a smoker. Sakura pressed a hand against her wound and hissed at the pain as she began searching through the bedside cabinet.

Dammit, there was nothing.

She searched through the entire apartment, tracking blood as she went.

Nothing.

How could this guy not have a single match?!

She was lucky that no one else had been sent (or perhaps the person or people watching her already knew that would be rather useless), but her luck wouldn't last forever, and she was feeling rather dizzy.

Sakura glanced at the stove and grit her teeth. Only one way then.

* * *

L stared at the dark figure on the screen.

What was the Kage trying to accomplish? She was clearly searching for something. He wouldn't presume to think that his opponent was careless enough to leave obvious DNA evidence everywhere, but that was exactly what she was doing.

Unless, of course, she wasn't human. Besides the obvious assumptions, he'd also considered the possibility that she wouldn't care about having her blood found and analyzed, as well as the possibility that she could use unknown powers to erase all traces of it from the crime scene. The first was looking more and more likely, though it didn't explain why she was running around the apartment so haphazardly. The Kage knew she was being watched. He'd seen her discover the criminal's earpiece - as expected - and recoil, so it likely wasn't that she didn't care.

Perhaps she had come to the conclusion that no one would be sent? He knew about her strange abilities, perhaps she thought he would think it would be pointless to try to risk attacking her.

Well, she was right. To an extent.

He wouldn't send anyone to stop her because it _was_ pointless. But not because he didn't want to risk having an agent die. L was 98.3% certain the Kage wouldn't kill someone she wasn't paid to kill, so no one he sent would be in any sort of peril.

The purpose of this experiment wasn't to try to capture her; one wouldn't catch water with a net, after all. L had already acknowledged that such efforts would be futile until he had a proper grasp on the assassin's character and her unexpected abilities.

Except for the single expletive that had escaped from her, she hadn't tried to communicate with him, the surveillant, at all, which further cemented the impression of cautiousness he'd drawn from her previous actions. She was a quiet kind of individual, opposed to taking risks, only focused on doing what she was paid to do.

So what she was doing right now was out of character.

L watched her reach for the large bottle of cooking oil with narrowed eyes.

"Watari. Send three firetrucks to that address. Quickly."

The firetrucks wouldn't get there in time. L furiously worked on hacking into the apartment's computer driven control panel. Luckily, the apartment was a very developed one, and had an addressable fire detection system.

On screen, a flash of black was rapidly spreading the oil all over the apartment, particularly on the areas of carpet where blood had been spilled. It then returned to the kitchen and found a roll of aluminum foil, sticking a fist full of it in the microwave and programming it to an hour. The Kage tore a wooden table leg off and headed over to the gas stove.

L sat back as the fire sprinklers in the apartment began to rain water all over the small abode. He was too late. His lips tilted slightly in displeasure when he saw that the microwave had already exploded onto the wooden kitchen cabinets and the Kage had spread fire on all of the pools of oil.

The black figure speedily bound her wound and escaped through the window. Several seconds later, the sprinklers were disabled, presumably because the Kage had closed the building's water supply valve.

She had gotten away from him, again.

Nonetheless, L felt satisfied. The Kage was irrefutably human (until now, he had allowed himself to doubt this) and, as apparent from the way she went to the trouble of setting the entire place on fire, she could easily be found using DNA profiling. He wasn't dealing with a supernatural being, he was dealing with a human, a citizen of Japan. The Kage could most definitely be brought to justice. He also now had a vocal sample to analyze; though it was muffled and relatively unreliable, he could still use it to narrow the killer down to a certain demographic.

Besides that, L had gotten her to panic, and he counted that as a personal win for him.

* * *

Sakura felt faint, and not just because of blood loss.

What was that?

_Who_ was that?

The police? Was it the police?

No, she doubted it. Sakura was almost certain that the NPA still thought she was a Jack-the-Ripper-esque psychopath. Last time she checked, no public announcement had been made about any sort of breakthrough on the Shi no Kage 'murders'. Yes, it was possible that they had figured out that she was a mercenary and had refrained from releasing the news, but she doubted it. This society was incredibly open about such things, sometimes to the point of incompetency, not to mention the way large organizations tended to leak information. Not to toot her own horn, but something this big would have made headlines.

And merely figuring out her motives wouldn't make setting a trap any easier. They wouldn't have any idea how to contact her - only her clients knew, and she'd made sure they wouldn't be able to reveal much.

Anyone who entered one of her stations and wrote on a scroll was tagged with the tiniest bit of her chakra, which would then slither its way into their cerebral cortex. The chakra was completely harmless and would lie dormant... until the person started revealing information about her. Or more specially, about the Shi no Kage. 78 seconds after the decision to talk registered in their brains, the traitor would be forced into a deep coma. The only way to wake them up would be by taking the sliver of chakra back out, and the only person who could do that in this world was her.

So the affected person would have virtually no chance of recovering, and not only because she felt negatively towards them. That bit of energy was entirely detached from her. Even if someone fell into the aforementioned coma, she would have no notice of it. One the one hand, this saved her from sensory overload - being directly bombarded by information from a foreign source was _not_ fun - but on the other, she had no way to track if information was being leaked about her, or how much was being said in those 78 seconds. She couldn't shorten that time either, though she'd definitely tried.

Her current opponent was either a client who'd decided to betray her, or a very efficient interrogator. A private detective or agency, probably. This was much too close for comfort.

How many times had she been filmed before now? No job in particular stood out, so maybe this was the first, which was a relief.

But then...

Who had she killed today?

Had she murdered a civilian just doing his job?

_Fucking hell._

The steel girder under her foot broke in half as she jumped off of it.

* * *

**Fuyuno Sakura** - age 14, 1st year high school

**L** - age 21, education unknown

* * *

**AN**

And she thought she'd left that behind, too. Killing innocent people, I mean.

Sakura is careless (should have checked if he was sleeping!) and L is immature.

Welp, now Sakura knows that someone is honing in on her.

Last chapter was a bit cracky, and rather disjointed, haha. It really could have been better - though I'm proud of certain paragraphs, I still kind of dislike most of it. I feel like I fell under your expectations. Sorry for the suck, guys! I promise that if a DRR character ever appears again in a normal chapter, it will be better. Probably. (I make no promises for omakes.)

I'm still not sure about the stalker thing. Blehh. Tell me honestly, do you guys want to see more of Izaya?

Guest: N-N-NaomixSakura? O_O


	32. Age 14 - Hades's Trickery

**July 19, 2004**

**2 years, 4 months, 4 days prior to Incident**

* * *

"Pomegranates?"

"Yeah. Beatus just bought a bag of them. Told us to give the most delicious one to you, or he'd kill us."

"Che. As if he could - "

"Is what Mello says, but I'm personally quite fond of living." Matt tossed her a pomegranate from the top of the pile; apparently this was 'the most delicious' one. It certainly looked the part, plump and round and a glossy red.

"Are you sure neither of you guys want it?"

"It's fine," Matt told her, grinning as he fiddled with his handheld.

Mello sprawled across the couch. "Whatever."

He'd gotten taller, she realised. In fact, both of them had, standing at least half a head over her when they'd previously been nearly the same height. Beatus had always been rather tall, so his growth wasn't of much note to her, but seeing these two overtake her was a strange feeling.

Strange, but good. It made her feel a bit proud, if that made sense.

"You guys should eat healthier. And sleep more."

"What?"

"So you can grow taller," she elaborated. "Girls like taller guys, you know?"

Mello's eyes shot to hers. "And you?"

"Huh?"

"Do you like tall guys?"

Sakura thought back to all of the men she'd ever considered attractive, from Hyuuga Neji and the Uchiha brothers to Nara Shikamaru and Shiranui Genma and, embarrassingly, Kakashi-sensei.

Kakashi had always been tall, as had Itachi-san and Genma-san. The aforementioned boys of her generation had all hit major growth spurts, and were easily over 170 centimeters by the end of the war.

So, if it really came down to it, the answer was...

"Yeah, I guess I do."

"Huh. I see." Mello gave her one last look as he settled back into his seat.

Sakura stared at the blond discreetly. For a genius, that question was incredibly unsubtle. She didn't want to be conceited, but she couldn't help wondering...

Sakura quickly peeled the pomegranate in her hands, taking a juicy seed and crunching it between her teeth to distract herself. Beatus was one thing, but allowing her thoughts to go along that lane with Mello made her feel like a pedophile.

(A voice in her subconscious defiantly cried that she was only 14, and dammit, hormones would prevail whether she wanted them to or not!

Sakura shoved that part of her mind back into its cage and kicked it back to the far recesses of her brain.

Hormones?

Ha!

Natural biological growth could wait until she was good and ready.)

"This is really good. Where did Beatus buy it?" she asked, crunching away at several more seeds.

"Dunno."

"No idea."

Sakura stopped chewing and looked at the nearly finished pomegranate in her hands.

The beginnings of dread stirred in her gut.

* * *

**Fuyuno Sakura** - age 14, 1st year high school

**Matt** - age 14, education unknown

**Mello** - age 14, education unknown

**B** - age 17, education unknown

* * *

**AN**

It's short 'cos there was really only one important thing happening that day. Also because I'm rushing to finish the pre-DN stage already.

It's been a while... Sorry. I'll probably end up taking much longer breaks in the future, though, so... (HAHAHAHASORRYNOTSORRY)

Yes, Sakura eats the seeds too. Gross, I know, but necessary. XD

I'm brainstorming a One Piece story right now, an OC insert. It's called The Indelible Song.

The OC - Kane, pronounced Kah-neh - is a street rat turned singer who is transferred from another world into the OP world by God because her beloved nii-san died and she's a bro-con and she eats a devil fruit because she doesn't want to starve and I'm really not selling this, am I hahahaha I'll have to figure out a proper summary soon

Sorry for that mess of a paragraph, I'm just a bit excited about it. :3

Either next chapter or the chapter afterward will be RedRose's prize. (You know, that thing we talked about? ;)


End file.
